Arb Assoc now saying we can go back to work

[wjotner]

Hi

 

Just wondering if anyone who has shutdown over the last couple of weeks is considering starting up again now that the Arb Association have said (after receiving clarification from Government) that anyone working outdoors are fine to be working as long as they can  follow the health guidelines.

 

Surely this is quite possible if work is organised well. If companies with multiple teams can stagger times that teams arrive at yard to pickup kit and vehicles. And if travelling to site can be done in separate vehicles.

 

What are other people thinking about this?

[treevolution]

Going to wait till after the Easter break to start back up again and following the guidelines to work safe.

 

One advantage will be that you won't get customers coming out and saying can you just.?

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

The AA were largely irrelevant in this. You could go to work from the off, all you had to do was read what the government said.

 

Very similar to here in France.

[maybelateron]

Going to site in separate vehicles is no problem for us, and complying with social distancing in the yard is OK too. My main worry is that is could be all to easy to briefly forget distancing, for example when one of us is mauling with moving a piece of timber by hand etc.

We did shut down fully, but I have started delivering woodchip and logs to customers who I am happy I can trust to keep distance. One customer wanted to come and collect woodchip from the yard, but I declined as I did not feel I could rely on him to fully comply with the rules.

The other slight worry, as has been quoted in another thread, is that some people might see our signwritten vehicle out at work and bad mouth us through not fully understanding the government guidance? 

[Ty Korrigan]

I've not stopped, though being short staffed and limited to a 2 man team, I found myself doing longer hours than usual trying to cram as much in before people canceled or even did some jobs themselves out of boredom.

Very few inquiries though but at least monetary wise, we are in a very good place.

Many of the council jobs have actually been made easier by the lack of pedestrians and onlookers.

My goal is to have an empty diary ready for a break and to be able to react faster and book any new jobs in sooner. I also need a week to return my chipper to the factory and a few days to work on the truck.

  Stuart

 

[oldwoodcutter]

I have thought about getting back and my foreman and lads are keen, but as above, I don’t want those John The Baptist types putting vids all over fb as that’s one bit of publicity I don’t need.
Could start again in a fortnight, see how it is.

[tree-fancier123]

20 minutes ago, maybelateron said:

My main worry is that is could be all to easy to briefly forget distancing, for example when one of us is mauling with moving a piece of timber by hand etc.

that is a problem - I took down a small dead tree last week and was loading up the wood to give to someone when I noticed the neighbours had felled a couple of small conifers and dumped the wood by a low wire fence, the neighbours were there so I asked if they wanted the wood for anyone or I could offload it for them. They proceeded to hand me the logs over the fence until the bloke said 'you don't want to get too close' me: 'oh shit, sorry I forgot'. After which I suggested they just throw the wood over. He said 'our daughter is a taxi driver'. I spent the rest of the day thinking how easy this virus can be passed on. If I'm symptom free two weeks from now, maybe I'm not incubating it from that encounter. I had minutes before taken the precaution of asking the customer to leave her cheque under a stone...

[wjotner]

All those replies seem pretty reasonable and understandable. I mainly work as a subbie to other firms and do some of my own work. So I'm just curious about what others are doing and thinking of maybe just doing a few small jobs that can be done with just 2 men or just by myself if safe.

 

[scraggs]

I still stick to what I have said from the start.
It isn't just a case of social distancing, what about cross contamination ?, and I wonder how many of you working truly understand how to control it, it's not just driving to site in separate vehicles.
Put some glitter on your hands and see where it's got to after a few hours.
Let's say you have an accident, it's a dangerous business, good luck with getting treatment, and is it right to put the extra burden on the NHS at a time when doctors and nurses are dying trying to save people, that may be a member of my family at some point.
We have lost a considerable amount of money over the last 2 weeks we have been shut and I expect it to be a few more weeks as yet, but I know for us it's the right thing to do, I know we have lost customers to my competitors who have stayed open.
I really hope that businesses who carry on do get shamed on FB and the likes, is it really fair on those that have stayed shut ?
I would imagine at some point after this there will be a whole load of no win no fee firms taking business owners to court on behalf of staff who caught it, or by family if they died.

[Ty Korrigan]

None of my 'confreres' are recieving many calls so I assume little 'poaching' is going on.

Glitter on hands... hmmm good example.

I've a litre of Vanilla scented alcohol in a hand mist spray.

It gets used on gloves, saws and krabs, chipper though only I use that. 

Climber is very autonamous, own vehicule and kit.

Our only common link is the rope with it's spliced Notch rigging thingy and the wood.

 Gloves, regularly sprayed in sickly sweet alcohol. 

For 'Breatharians' this virus must be worse than eating....tofu.

  Stuart