Building sites

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

They're still open aren't they?

My DH is a construction director for a medium sized company.

They have closed. Site staff are going in to secure sites and pack up and are required to be finished and leave site within 2 hours.

Builders merchants supplying to them are closing too.

The only building site still running is at the local hospital - where they have been getting additional wards ready with more beds etc. This is the only site they deemed necessary to keep going.

The directors felt it was not in their staff's best interests to continue to put them in danger, physically and mentally. I really hope the company survives this and comes out the other side.

Good for your DH. Nice to hear of an ethical employer.

I think shutdowns need to come from the Government otherwise they will just say find another job, construction industry still trading. It will be a way to wiggle out of oaying the 80% of self employed incomes.

Yup, you're right. Bloody government.

@Likethebattle
If you are living there whilst the work is being done, the contractors should from a H&S point of view not be leaving any work that is structurally unstable at any point so this shouldn't be an issue.

However the main issue for many sites is securing work so that you are not broken into or have tools or materials stolen
Less of an issue if you are there however openings should be boarded up if possible and tools and materials stored securely
Another issue is leaving works that are potentially dangerous if children access them / climbing / touching sharp edges / electrics etc - if you have children at home you need to make sure they do not access areas that are unfinished unless supervised by an adult.

I'm an architect and have spent the past week discussing this with clients, you are not alone and many are in the same boat.

I have emailed my MP.

We're close enough to be commutable to london but far enough to be a popular retirement location packed full of old folk and old folks homes. Many of whom seem to think theyre invincible and still out on the street.

11 intensive care beds. Thats it. We really dont want it.

Quite asides from caring about BF who is on site

My ds is a dry liner, he is self employed and so confused.
He went to the site this morning and left again because he said it’s isn’t safe.
His boss feels they should close but it has to come from above.
He won’t earn any money today.
It’s very stressful. He lives alone and has to support 2 primary school kids and pay rent.

Someone came along and shut the site opposite me at about 11pm. They all went home. I hope they can sort out some kind of pay for these construction workers.

The one near me isn't shut. It's a massive construction site as they're building a new estate on a field.

Feel sorry for the workers that they may not be able to work. Also feel sorry if they're being forced to work and would rather stay at home! But they're not socially distancing themselves from each other, from what I could see while curtain-twitching! Lots of huddling around plans.

It's a bone of contention round here anyway, as the property developers have been horrible to deal with up til now. They found a legal loophole (a mis-drawn map) to build on an area of natural beauty. And then knocked down a house to get access to the land without the consent of the council.

The legal wranglings have gone on for two years, but they went through last year and we've been expecting them to start in December. So it's particularly galling that they only started yesterday just when everyone's at home to hear them.

I know they're probably not doing it on purpose to piss us all off, but it does feel particularly ill-timed! Not the workers' fault though.

My partner works for a plant hire company - they've still been taking bookings today and are expecting to be open for the rest of the week! Ridiculous! I also live on a road where there's a building supplies depot - it's been open all day and busier than usual. The government needs to explicitly tell these places to close.

Because I'm a builder, I'm special. I'm self employed. I'm going to get a government subsidy but in the meantime I'm going to carry on working because I don't see why I shouldn't earn and claim at the same time. And it's okay to work because I'm outside some of the time - like when I'm going in and out of your neighbours house. And your neighbours are only here til next week anyway because that's when they're going to their holiday place in Anglesey. They would have gone sooner except that they rented it out to a friend of a friend (who's self isolating because he was in Italy skiing a couple of weeks ago) & started feeling a bit ropey) . And do for the past week, he's been there with his parents , his wife & their 3 kids, as well as his DB, DSIL & their brood - cause they haven't had a proper old fashioned bucket and spade family break for AGES, and it seemed like an ideal time, what with the adults all being able to work from home & GPs supervising the kids; weathers been great too, hasn't it?
Once they're gone I can get stuck in with all the heavy noisy machinery - clients like to go away when that's going on. Not that you can blame them - all that dust and non stop racket, who wants to put up with that? Yeah, me and my team are getting on with the job, rocking up as soon as it's light. We're not shirkers & to prove it, we'll be here even longer every day next week when the clocks change. Not like theses lightweights, just sitting in front of their screens. Miserable sods. We tried to cheer them up with blasts of mullet rock/radio 2 but they shut the windows. In this weather too!
We are being really careful though, proper elf & safety. Only 3 to a bench seat in the transit, Rest in the back . Only 3 tea breaks (an hour) using our special team mugs. They're all the same so no arguments about pinching someone's else's. Washing up? Nah, we just use the same one we had before... And of course we don't use the Client 's Facilities - we have our own portaloo on site. On site for weeks and it's never had to be emptied yet.All sealed innit? And (sometimes) we wear gloves so our hands are always clean (ish) AND we're using all sorts of anti non toxic chemicals & special stuff to glue & stick with , so that's all good and dead hygienic. Wash my hands? Nah, mate. You havin a laugh? Me, I'm special, key worker me, economy'd grind to a halt without me. I'm a BUILDER and I'm more important than you, your sick child , ailing parents and or your neighbour on chemo.

No, DiNATwist your're simply a cuntish twat who thinks they're cutting edge funny.

Funny fucker DiNa.

As expected all my sites are closed from today apart from one. That one is going ahead as we simply don't have the option not to. I spent over an hour discussing it with the other structural engineer and we couldn't take the risk of not doing the work. I now have to visit minimum twice a week, I really hope that is counted as essential travel. It's delicate work and I don't want it happening unsupervised. I trust the contractor but ultimately it is me where the buck stops.

My family member works for a construction company who haven't implemented the H&S protocals, no hand sanitiser, no hand towels, no toilet paper, no temperature gauging, no disinfectant, the site has been comprimised by a worker with Covid-19 but no deap clean and still inducting new site workers. His senior line managers don't give a fuck. Their response is a smug "business as usual" while they and their office staff work from home. Subcontractors are refusing to work at the site now because they are too concerned about their safety.
My family member will be sacked if he doesn't turn up for work.
He came home this morning because nobody knew what was happening.

And I'm talking about a huge construction company. They are a disgrace.

My neighbourhood site is really stressing me out today. They are all in again and just had a giant huddle. They are virtually kissing each other. I am genuinely stressed by the difference between what Robert Jenrick says and what is going on on sites. I don't want to become that person who keeps phoning the police but they are becoming the nation's new superspreaders.

If you know the name of the construction company, phone them and inform them that H&S protocal is being breached. They have a duty of care to their employees and subcontractors working on their site, and it's dangerous and unfair on the other site workers who may be doing their best to keep a physical distance.

I alerted the local councillor who ahs emailed them . There ahs just been a shouting match out there between a walker and the builders. Sigh.

They are actually endangering public health and intend to do so until forced to stop, I imagine.

Both me and my partner work in the construction industry. We work for (different) very large contractors. In both of our companies no sites are closing, as our clients, who are primarily government bodies, won’t allow it. This means that all of our subcontractors also have to work. Until clients allow work to stop, the large contractors will not close sites, it is profit before health. No chance of staying 2m apart on site.

It's so obviously profit before health, isn't it? What a dreadful indictment of government and its fat cat construction donors.

Persimmon have downed tools, press says.

Had an email from company further up the foodchain to us. Work 2 meters apart which isn't being adhered to. Can't car share or use public transport to get to work. Can't eat in canteen but going to designate certain areas in the building to eat. Blah blah blah.

Am getting to close of business today and pulling the plug. Have told dh to record all instances of 2m rule not kept to. Have also told him to photograph the empty hand sanitizers and soap and paper towels in the filthy toilets.

Was trying to keep them going for the sake of a couple of lads that work for us as they will be fucked without wages.

Germany is in lock down. Construction workers are working as usual.

Are you there?

I am not sure Germany is in lockdown is it? It's a soft lockdown , bit like ours.