Arb Assoc now saying we can go back to work

[maybelateron]

8 hours ago, scraggs said:

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,

That is a fair point, but some of us DO understand about cross contamination. My former career justifies that statement for me. It is also a valid point about potential for injury and need for hospital treatment. But then the government guidelines say it is OK to go to work if you cannot work from home, and can follow the safety rules. I think for a firm like us who are 95% domestic the reality is most customers won't want or expect us to be doing the work at present.

[ChunksBigBro]

8 hours ago, scraggs said:

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.

Why should those that are working be shamed? It CLEARLY says on gov docs which are available to you all that we should be working inline with distancing, only CERTAIN types of business are forced to close

[ChunksBigBro]

But its down to your risk assessment, if you cant work within the regs then yes you should not work

[Joe Newton]

Who are the Arb Association to say wether or not we should be working?

 

Their initial advice was in contradiction to the government's. The AA are not an official governing body, why anyone would turn to them for guidance over the government advice is beyond me. 

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

4 minutes ago, Joe Newton said:

Who are the Arb Association to say wether or not we should be working?

 

We haven't we simply conveyed a response from a Government Minister which said the industry is okay to work which many people and contractors were seeking as we've been inundated with enquiries (both members and non-members.)

 

It is for "you" individually to decide "whether or not to work" and the view seems to be 50/50 as we've seen.

 

Regards,

Paul

[Andymacp]

By conveying the response you are therefore endorsing it.
It would be perhaps more helpful if the arb association could give clarity of specific tasks such as how to clean tools correctly, how often ?, after every use or start and finish of the day, should staff wear masks, what chemicals should be used, what should be done with waste materials. How you recommend rigging operations are carried out safely to prevent cross contamination, how gloves should be used properly.
I’m sure most contractors now fully understand that it has been left to them to decide whether they should/can work safely.
It would be more helpful then if the Arb Ass could provided better and more detailed guidance on how to do that.

[scraggs]

2 hours ago, maybelateron said:

That is a fair point, but some of us DO understand about cross contamination. My former career justifies that statement for me. It is also a valid point about potential for injury and need for hospital treatment. But then the government guidelines say it is OK to go to work if you cannot work from home, and can follow the safety rules. I think for a firm like us who are 95% domestic the reality is most customers won't want or expect us to be doing the work at present.

Trouble is it's the very large proportion who think they do but actually don't have a bloody clue that are a danger to everyone.
At the end of the day it's down to the individual if they want to carry on or not.
When this is over I will be able to say I have done as much as I could to ease the burden on the NHS and help control it's spread, whilst my competitors will be able to say I made a shed load of money because there was no competition, I know which one sits better with me.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

15 minutes ago, Andymacp said:

By conveying the response you are therefore endorsing it.
It would be perhaps more helpful if the arb association could give clarity of specific tasks such as how to clean tools correctly, how often ?, after every use or start and finish of the day, should staff wear masks, what chemicals should be used, what should be done with waste materials. How you recommend rigging operations are carried out safely to prevent cross contamination, how gloves should be used properly.
I’m sure most contractors now fully understand that it has been left to them to decide whether they should/can work safely.
It would be more helpful then if the Arb Ass could provided better and more detailed guidance on how to do that.

Thanks for your reply and points raised.

I will feedback to Head Office regarding more detail of "how" to work safely during Covid19 pandemic but in the mean time some information can be gleaned here    

Arboricultural Association - Help for Arborists

WWW.TREES.ORG.UK

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A range of tree related help and advice for members of the public as well as tree surgeons.

 

Regards,

Paul

[Andymacp]

Thanks Paul,
The info is good but very generic.
Would it not have been a good idea for the Association to have a team of Arb approved contractors go out and preform tasks and then you could observe whether they were possible or not.
Also the advice seems to be very England based. DEFRA and PHE.
What is the advice from SNH and the welsh and Irish equivalent.

Cheers

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

26 minutes ago, Andymacp said:

Thanks Paul,
The info is good but very generic.
Would it not have been a good idea for the Association to have a team of Arb approved contractors go out and preform tasks and then you could observe whether they were possible or not.
Also the advice seems to be very England based. DEFRA and PHE.
What is the advice from SNH and the welsh and Irish equivalent.

Cheers

Hi Andy(?), the guidance we have principally received has been from DEFRA / PHE / HSE, hence that's what's posted.

 

Your proposal would take time to coordinate and complete, plus we're all home-working currently. Hence it's non-starter for now I'm afraid.

 

In terms of what tasks are not possible...I don't immediately see any being so 'if' a business has decided to work...one of the most challenging is clearly maintaining the 2.0m social distancing guidance ("where possible") and particularly when travelling in works vehicles if there is more than just the driver any this is where the use of the face-mask would be appropriate (but not more than 2 people AND preferably travel separately...albeit my local council are clearly immune as 3x & 4x operators in recycling / refuse vehicles, mute point.)

 

The construction industry sector have also issued some guidance but again it's quite general (see attached.)

 

Regards,

Paul

Site-Operating-Procedures-23-March-2020.pdf