Wasting Taxpayers Money

spen666

I noticed yesterday that one of the internal door handles in my work place is currently only held on by 2 screws instead of 4. Its a simple berass handle, needing 4 small screws to be securely fitted.

I reported it to the facilities manager who said they would arrange for the external maintenance contractor to be called in to repair it. I said that was a waste of money & if they just gave me a couple of screws i'd do it.

I was told that was not possible as I had not been trained to do that job and they would need the external contractor to do it.

What a waste of time and money.


BTW did I say I worked for the state. Credit crunch & belt tightening? not necessary in government it seems

El Gordo

You could of course just bring a couple of screws from home and do the job without asking anyone. That would save even the cost of your and your facilitiy manager's time making the phonecall.

It is a daft situation though - I agree.

OffTheBackAdam

Oh no, can't do that, not going through the correct proceedures!
You'll get fired for that!

tlw1

Who stole the screws??????

spen666

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

Oh no, can't do that, not going through the correct proceedures!
You'll get fired for that!

exactly.

i was b*ll*cked for having the audacity to buy a £6 shower head to replace the broken one I had been asking to get repaired for 2 years.

apparently again I was not qualified to unscrew the old one and screw on the new one.

I never even asked them to reimburse me.

I was told I needed to have it done by a qualified maintenance person. The fact it had not been done despite 2 years of asking was no excuse.

BTW- I was the only person who used the shower room at that time

ademort

I work in the construction industry, We were working on a pipeline and it was necessary to remove two scaffolding planks several times a day in order to get the job done. Two welders had to go on a course for a week so that they were then qualified to remove the planks. Anybody could do it , but the client insisted that the men who removed the planks were qualified, beggars belief. Just for the record to remove the planks you could stand on the scaffolding floor and just push the two planks which are about head height above you, up and out. You then slide them accross to the remaining planks. My son is 11 he could do it Ademort

Nuggs

spen666 wrote:

BTW did I say I worked for the state. Credit crunch & belt tightening? not necessary in government it seems

Apparently massive public expenditure and a huge tax deficit is the only way out of this recession...

It's good to see that your lot are doing their bit.

Parsnip49

Stupid people lead to stupid laws.

The tw*ts on those claims direct adverts are the reason this kinda stuff happens, the only reason H&S is insane nowadays is because there are so many people out for a free ride.

Im a climbing instructor, so i know all about this kinda nonsense. Groups are no longer allowed to tie their own knots or even screw up karabiners incase they do it wrong and sue me - because there have been a few cases of people forgetting to check their safety in an indoor climbing environment and taking the wall to court, even though it was their own fault entirely.

It is stupid and OTT, but there is good reason for it. Granted, you aren't likely to damage yourself fixing a door handle, but say you did, your company would be liable if they told you to do it.

Captain Fagor

spen666 wrote:

BTW- I was the only person who used the shower room at that time

There's a joke in there somewhere....

Lagavulin

I'm also in the employment of Her Majesty and we're not even supposed to swap out keyboards or mice if we haven't been certified to do so.
I know who needs f*&^%ng certifying!

Mr_Cellophane

Lagavulin wrote:

I'm also in the employment of Her Majesty and we're not even supposed to swap out keyboards or mice if we haven't been certified to do so.
I know who needs f*&^%ng certifying!

Slightly off topic - where I work advertised for a PC Desk Top support person, must have appropriate degree. The following week they advertised for a Client Delivery Manager, must have "A" levels. So the person who changed your mouse when it is broken needed to be more qualified than the person who negotiated contracts with customers.

ms_tree

I get told that my Risk Assessments are too long and should only be bullit points so I said I put everything down I can think of so as to cover myself as I know they won't support me is something happens. But really RAs are common sense but it has to be in writing. (Local govnt this time!)

ms_tree

I got interrupted by the phone but was going to say that our IT guys aren't supposed to repair things as it could be dangerous.

bellys

weclome to the world of sue them if things are not right or people get hurt. every company has to cover there back insurance bull poo ie risk assments trannig and so on. thank the people thay made us a county off sh*t bags and not workers.