please tell me again how they ever became an Empire...
Posted on 02/04/2006 3:25:12 PM PST by patton
The lights may soon be going out in part of the Lake District after health and safety officers said workmen must not climb ladders to replace bulbs.
In the past contractors have gone aloft to repair and maintain street lights in Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale.
But now Amey, the company that carries out the work for South Lakeland district council, has ruled that its staff will no longer be using ladders on certain lampposts.
This means that local officials must either abandon the maintenance work, leaving residents in the dark, or buy £1,000 lampposts equipped with folding columns that can be lowered to ground level.
Alan Day, the chairman of Kirkby Lonsdale town council, said: "It is crazy. We have three excellent guys who repair our lights, but they have now been told that they can't use the ladders they have always used.
"Surely there is a far greater risk if young children are walking home in the dark."
Phil Turner, the street care manager for South Lakeland, confirmed that lights that could not be reached by a vehicle were now "not getting their full maintenance regime".
The council now could either do nothing, thereby effectively abandoning the lights, or buy new ones with folding columns.
A spokesman for Amey said: "We are undergoing a programme of street light renewal and there are a couple of instances where it is dangerous to use a ladder.
"It is not that we are never going to use ladders any more, just that we are not using them on these particular lights."
The false dichotomy: Can not firefighters lift city workers up in their hook and ladder to replace the stinkin' bulbs?
I guess it would be out of line to think of getting a new company to carry out the work. Yeah, it's the UK.
Who's next in the bidding line.
Answer... Three. One to hold the light-bulb and two to turn the ladder.
This means that local officials must either abandon the maintenance work, leaving residents in the dark, or buy £1,000 lampposts equipped with folding columns that can be lowered to ground level.
excellent. LOL
Hopefully. When we visited a few years ago, the fire brigades were on strike. They would actually go to the fires and watch the structures burn to the ground.
Military teams tried to pick up the slack, but were not allowed to use the municipal equipment.
They did rescue anyone trapped in burning buildings.
No problem I see here, just buy a bucket truck. That is how they replace light bulbs here in my town.
You just have to love them union rules :-b
This issue reminds me of the oft said phrase, "That's not my job". Makes me want to scream "Just git 'er done". Duh.
LOL.
please tell me again how they ever became an Empire...
"Surely there is a far greater risk if young children are walking home in the dark."
Give the little brats flashlights.
Dunno - I wasn't there. I mean I am old, but c'mon...LOL
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