Wasting Taxpayer's Money

spen666

I work in an organisation funded by the taxpayer. We have a toilet/ washroom in the premises where the bulb needs replacing. It has been like this for days.

I offered to put a new bulb in but was told that would not be allowed as it has to be done by the contracted maintenance company. Apparently I am not qualified to screw in a lightbulb! [ Apparently I am well qualified to screw things up at work though- or so the boss says]

So at present we have one of the washrooms out of action waiting for an expensive maintenance operative to attend to screw in a light bulb

Great use of tax payers funds eh?

always_tyred

spen666 wrote:

I work in an organisation funded by the taxpayer. We have a toilet/ washroom in the premises where the bulb needs replacing. It has been like this for days.

I offered to put a new bulb in but was told that would not be allowed as it has to be done by the contracted maintenance company. Apparently I am not qualified to screw in a lightbulb! [ Apparently I am well qualified to screw things up at work though- or so the boss says]

So at present we have one of the washrooms out of action waiting for an expensive maintenance operative to attend to screw in a light bulb

Great use of tax payers funds eh?

Thing is, Spen, if you try to screw it in yourself without requisite training, the organisation for which you work could be held liable. Imagine if an employee turned to some weasel of a lawyer and sued for a fantastical amount of money, all for want of a qualified electrician.

spen666

Always Tyred wrote:

...
Thing is, Spen, if you try to screw it in yourself without requisite training, the organisation for which you work could be held liable. Imagine if an employee turned to some weasel of a lawyer and sued for a fantastical amount of money, all for want of a qualified electrician.

I agree those lawyers are a nuisance aren't they- nearly as bad as the accountants.

Risk needs to be managed, not completely avoided. I could understand if it involved more than simply screwing in an ordinary bayonet fitting lightbulb. There is not even a need to climb a ladder.

Surely it must be more cost effective to train someone in house than to call out a maintenace company everytime a bulb need replacing

White Line

Just do it yourself and deny it if anybody asks. :?

White Line

:oops: Double post.

NWLondoner

I agree what a load of b*llocks.

I'm sure there is a "How Many H&S officers take it take to change a lightbulb" joke out there

Aidy

In halls at uni I was told that I couldn't change the lightbulb in my room myself, health and safety, needs a qualified maintenance person blah blah.

Great, an entire weekend without any sort of light before a project was due in.

biondino

I suspect that once they've told you not to do it, they've done their bit, so then you can simply ignore what they said, change the lightbulb, and then give a quick and cheery "no worries, the lights suddenly started working again", and all will be fine.

always_tyred

spen666 wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

...
Thing is, Spen, if you try to screw it in yourself without requisite training, the organisation for which you work could be held liable. Imagine if an employee turned to some weasel of a lawyer and sued for a fantastical amount of money, all for want of a qualified electrician.

I agree those lawyers are a nuisance aren't they- nearly as bad as the accountants.

Risk needs to be managed, not completely avoided. I could understand if it involved more than simply screwing in an ordinary bayonet fitting lightbulb. There is not even a need to climb a ladder.

Surely it must be more cost effective to train someone in house than to call out a maintenace company everytime a bulb need replacing

Oh, I see your mistake. No, risk is binary. There is either risk, or no risk. Its not possible to evaluate risk at all. If you try, you risk that the estimated risk is wrong, and that risk is also binary. There is no way out.

always_tyred

NWLondoner wrote:

I agree what a load of b*llocks.

I'm sure there is a "How Many H&S officers take it take to change a lightbulb" joke out there

Its a trick question. H&S officers aren't trained to change a lightbulb.

always_tyred

White Line wrote:

Just do it yourself and deny it if anybody asks. :?

I think you should get a disco ball and put it in there. See if they decide to object because (a) its a disco ball and the moving lights make it difficult to aim, or (b) you haven't been trained in disco ball installation.

NWLondoner

Hell i've even had a H&S briefing on how to correctly lift a 2.5ltr can of paint FFS!!!!

jrduquemin

Bugger it, I'd do it myself :-)

always_tyred

NWLondoner wrote:

Hell i've even had a H&S briefing on how to correctly lift a 2.5ltr can of paint FFS!!!!

Have your had your "worskstation ergonomic H&S evaluation"? I doded mine for a year, quit and vowed never again to work for an organisation so bloated and inefficient that someone could be hired to teach you how to sit.

NWLondoner

Always Tyred wrote:

NWLondoner wrote:

Hell i've even had a H&S briefing on how to correctly lift a 2.5ltr can of paint FFS!!!!

Have your had your "worskstation ergonomic H&S evaluation"? I doded mine for a year, quit and vowed never again to work for an organisation so bloated and inefficient that someone could be hired to teach you how to sit.

Not had that one but was told how to blow and wipe my nose the other week

spen666

NWLondoner wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

NWLondoner wrote:

Hell i've even had a H&S briefing on how to correctly lift a 2.5ltr can of paint FFS!!!!

Have your had your "worskstation ergonomic H&S evaluation"? I doded mine for a year, quit and vowed never again to work for an organisation so bloated and inefficient that someone could be hired to teach you how to sit.

Not had that one but was told how to blow and wipe my nose the other week

Think I had that- is it the one where the boss tells you that you'd better keep your nose clean if you want to keep your job?

always_tyred

NWLondoner wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

NWLondoner wrote:

Hell i've even had a H&S briefing on how to correctly lift a 2.5ltr can of paint FFS!!!!

Have your had your "worskstation ergonomic H&S evaluation"? I doded mine for a year, quit and vowed never again to work for an organisation so bloated and inefficient that someone could be hired to teach you how to sit.

Not had that one but was told how to blow and wipe my nose the other week

And yet people are regularly let loose in company kitchenettes.

Eau Rouge

Is ti H&S that prevents you, or is it actually that the maintanence contract doesn't allow "self-maintanence", it's their job, and their job alone. Thats how it is with out contractors.

spen666

Eau Rouge wrote:

Is ti H&S that prevents you, or is it actually that the maintanence contract doesn't allow "self-maintanence", it's their job, and their job alone. Thats how it is with out contractors.

how would the maintenance company know if we just screwed a new bulb in?

Why have government enrtered into exlusive deals like this at taxpayers expense

il_principe

spen666 wrote:

Why have government enrtered into exlusive deals like this at taxpayers expense

Because that's what this government is good at, filling the sodding trough.

spen666

Il Principe wrote:

spen666 wrote:

Why have government enrtered into exlusive deals like this at taxpayers expense

Because that's what this government is good at, filling the sodding trough.

wish they would fill it for their staff instead of for private contractors and consultants!

Seriously the money that is wasted in government/ quangos is appaling

secretsam

spen666 wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

spen666 wrote:

Why have government enrtered into exlusive deals like this at taxpayers expense

Because that's what this government is good at, filling the sodding trough.

wish they would fill it for their staff instead of for private contractors and consultants!

Seriously the money that is wasted in government/ quangos is appaling

Couple of points, as someone who's worked on PFI hospitals, with the contractors AND the users (ie people in the hospital):
1. If this is (say) a PFI hospital, then it's not your employer's building, and they have no right to alter it without permission - imagine if someone put up a shelf, and botched it, damaging an electric line? You see my point. Also, if you have to reach up to put the bulb in, do you have a ladder?
2. However, the whole lightbulb thing is a little daft in some ways. More recent maintenance contracts will allow for local staff to do this.
3. Yes, it's the lawyers' fault...ambulance chasers and all that. Whoever lumped accountants in there must have a clouded view of their role.
4. Waste in the public sector? Sure, loads. Much of it sadly driven by contradictory government policy - which (like it or not) WE VOTE FOR. But a Daily Mail style "public sector bad and wasteful, private sector good and efficient" view is astonishingly naive. I've seen private sector firms waste astonishing sums...

Oh, and I am a private consultant, working with the NHS. And like many of my fellows, I damn well earn every penny, and my clients get more than their money's worth.

Roastie

White Line wrote:

Just do it yourself and deny it if anybody asks. :?

+1

And stop wasting the taxpayers' money on this forum during working hours, dammit! :P

tebbit

We had a caretaker on a school once, who checked whether a circuit was live by putting a screw driver into the socket, guess what, it was.

coffeecup

I think you should put together a support group to help deal with the darkness...

See if your employer will fund regular meetings in a local public house and if they won't, just go off on stress and claim compo...

Eau Rouge

spen666 wrote:

Eau Rouge wrote:

Is ti H&S that prevents you, or is it actually that the maintanence contract doesn't allow "self-maintanence", it's their job, and their job alone. Thats how it is with out contractors.

how would the maintenance company know if we just screwed a new bulb in?

Why have government enrtered into exlusive deals like this at taxpayers expense

Probably for exactly the same reasons the private sector does, I work for a large multinational, they employ companies on these contracts.
It's fairly standard practise for larger companies. Site maintenance is an industry all on it's own, and companies (or government departments) who's core work is totally unrelated are better off not having to set up internal pseudo-companies to do this work. It's far easier to farm it out, and in the long term, probably cheaper too, by the time you employ the layers of middle management to run it, etc. You see it with things like catering too.

As you say though, they wouldn't know if you did it, but if you ask someone can you do it, the answer has to be no.

The best case I've seen is the banning of kettles from our team rooms as it would breach the catering companies contract, but boiling water in the microwaves is fine. :roll:

chuckcork

Not quite the same, but just becase its stupid, expensive, non-sensical and counter productive doesn't mean it isn't a good bureaucratic procedure.

In the past they called it demarcation didn't they? Now its health and safety, or IT security policy (which I ran afoul of in my last job in an IT equivalent of what your talking about) or something else like your maintenance contract. Beats me really how anything actually does happen in government with an approach like that, but its all about keeping butts covered in the end, no one takes responsibility for anything because they might be exposed to liability or found to be at fault by their superiors.

And the ones who are prepared to take responsibility expect of course to be paid appearance money...wouldn't you?

jedster

In halls at uni I was told that I couldn't change the lightbulb in my room myself, health and safety, needs a qualified maintenance person blah blah.

Great, an entire weekend without any sort of light before a project was due in.

I'm amazed by this. Given how many rules I broke as a student, I find it incomprehensible that you wouldn't have just changed it.

The youth if today :roll: Can't summon the rebellion to change a lightbulb

J

daviesee

Think I had that- is it the one where the boss tells you that you'd better keep your nose clean if you want to keep your job?[/quote]

I know people who go out of their way getting their nose dirty with the boss to keep their job.

Pooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh :twisted:

andrewlwood

Hang on a minute. All these things are a direct response to the litigation culture that has sprung up around dumb nuts driving with coffee between their knees, following satnav directions into rivers and McDonalds making them fat.

Agree that your company would privately thank you for doing this on the sly (but you'd have to get the bulb from somewhere).

On the subject of sitting training - I really benefitted from mine, and the whole 'H&S gone mad' argument doesn't wash. So many people sit badly on their chairs, storing up back, neck, shoulder and wrist problems for later life. While searching for advice on buying a new bike in the last couple of months, just about everyone has said 'get professional fitting advice' for the bike - why not for desk chairs as well? Not many of us spend as much time on the bike as we do in our office chairs.

always_tyred

andrewlwood wrote:

On the subject of sitting training - I really benefitted from mine, and the whole 'H&S gone mad' argument doesn't wash. So many people sit badly on their chairs, storing up back, neck, shoulder and wrist problems for later life. While searching for advice on buying a new bike in the last couple of months, just about everyone has said 'get professional fitting advice' for the bike - why not for desk chairs as well? Not many of us spend as much time on the bike as we do in our office chairs.

Yes, but my gran was able to tell me to sit up straight and keep my shoulders back, and she didn't demand a salary of £25k to do so. Actually, the difficulty was persuading her that I no longer wished to receive her ergonomic advice.