council contracts, are they legal?

[danroker1987]

they want to know you have all the gear so , in case a large are falls over you can get rid of it very quickly as appose to ringing up on a main road taking time and being un efficient

[alliaria]

As an LA Tree Officer, it is our policy to only employ AAA contractors, seems fair to me.

[sean]

As an LA Tree Officer, it is our policy to only employ AAA contractors, seems fair to me.

 

Hi mate. I've worked on big council contracts for Arb Approved companies and they have been a joke. Shabby equipment, being sent out on jobs with hardly any signage. They are then given God knows how much notice until the next inspection and on that day we all had brand new signs, first aid kits and signs etc.

 

Arb approved companies should not be notified of an inspection. It should be a spot check so they can really prove their worth!!!

[Mesterh]

As an LA Tree Officer, it is our policy to only employ AAA contractors, seems fair to me.

 

I didn't think that was'legal' as it's public money your spending?

 

Ie you can make it a requirement that companies work to such and such a standard but can't dismiss them if they aren't in xxx club.

[Steve Bullman]

 

Arb approved companies should not be notified of an inspection. It should be a spot check so they can really prove their worth!!!

 

this

[Stephen Blair]

As an LA Tree Officer, it is our policy to only employ AAA contractors, seems fair to me.

 

 

You should say ' boom boom ' after 1 liners like that

[Johny Walker]

As an LA Tree Officer, it is our policy to only employ AAA contractors, seems fair to me.

 

what ballocks ,most t/o are failed arbs ime,

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Not trying to defend anybody here but inevitably the larger the business the more challenging it is to control and maintain standards and compliance.

 

In terms of only employing ArbACs, the usual term I see is "AA Approved Contractor...or equivalent", i.e. a contractor working to the same standards. This recognises it is not a legal requirement to be ArbAC to operate as an arboricultural contractor, hence other contractors can be considered (and pan-European dependent upon the contract value) and hence is not considered to be 'anti-competitive.' However, most contractors I speak with would welcome the Government introducing a mandatory qualification for tree surgery businesses, which is never going to happen, and perhaps here is a 'voluntary' equivalent...not perfect by any means BUT, I believe, the best option currently AND the more ArbACs = the bigger the voice and the bigger the influence.

 

RE-"spot-checks", in theory this sounds an obvious and easy thing to do, and we do "reserve the right" under the scheme rules, but, in practice, in many instances I suspect would be ineffective as we turn up at the office / yard only to be told the guys are working 50 miles away, or on a hedge trimming job, or on a commercial site we cannot access without authorisation, or on holiday etc. etc. The exception here would probably be the larger organisations working on, for instance. Local Authority contracts and it may be that at some future stage as the scheme continues to grow we can introduce spot-checks.

 

The other major factor here is resources, and time, and, as scheme manager, I cannot justify, nor find, such.

 

I'm satisfied that, overall, most of the ArbACs are compliant most of the time but human nature being what it is we many push the boundaries and ignore the rules when there's no-one around to check.

 

Thanks for your comments / posts here, very useful.

 

Cheers..

Paul

Edited January 21, 2016 by AA Teccie (Paul)