Council employed landscaper

[iwanttoshakesomeppl]

Would anyone class a landscaper employed by the council as a keyworker?

No, not useless they are helping with other jobs within council

Why do you ask?

Well the council-employed landscapers were in our estate yesterday cutting the grass on the greens (as they do regularly) - the grass hadn't got the memo that growing wasn't essential.

They are outdoors, 2 of them whizzing around on tractor-mower vehicles, well over 2m apart.

And if they were to not keep coming regularly, there could be serious problems trying to get their work done whenever the lockdown and restrictions are lifted enough for them to get back to it. As the grass, having STILL not got that memo, would be a couple of feet high and require a scythe to cut it first.

If this is going to be ‘council have gardeners out’ bash, please don’t.
Gardeners are allowed to work as it’s unlikely they come into contact with anyone and it keeps them earning too.

Depends upon what it involves - it's not all just cutting the grass around blocks of flats and planting out Busy Lizzies, it can be keeping road verges, central reservations and roundabouts clear for visibility, dealing with unstable banks, handling fallen branches, etc. All important tasks that we would notice if they weren't done - and it would reasonable to ask somebody usually tasked with planting Annual Bedding outside the council offices to go and help with other areas that are important as a result of sickness absence. After all, they're actually rather well qualified in most cases, licensed for different machinery and vehicles, had training in hazardous chemicals, use of PPE, etc.

Our gardener is still working. He can't really do his job from home! We don't come into contact with him at all, he just arrives by car, lets himself into our garden, does the gardening and leaves in his car again.

Our gardener is still working. He can't really do his job from home! We don't come into contact with him at all, he just arrives by car, lets himself into our garden, does the gardening and leaves in his car again.

And you don't have to be a key worker to carry on working outside the home. You just have to be unable to do your job from home. Our window cleaners are still going too. We are in Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon actually encouraged it:

'With regards to those working alone and providing community services such as gardeners or window cleaners, Scotland’s First minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "If they can go about their business safely this can be good for the community and we would encourage them to do so'

I live on a golf course (not my idea of fun but it's a great open space for walking). Even though it is closed to players the greenkeepers are still out mowing, fertilizing and aerating the grass. It's nice to still be able to exchange cheery waves as they wizz past on their mowers and mini tractors, it means they still have jobs, and can get the course up and running again quickly once this is all over.

Yes

I should have mentioned that our greens are very well used in general by residents of the estate, for walking dogs, playing ball, kids playing etc.

And in the current lockdown, it is a large open space that people can go out onto with their DCs or dogs safely. We were able, before it became stricter, to have coffee out there sitting 2 m apart and just catch up with neighbours. There has still been a lot of sport - of varying levels of expertise - going on (from the toddlers with a Dad and a ball, to the teens (brothers) with a bag of balls, a goal and a dad who is a coach giving them a full session, and everything in between). There have been a variety of sports too - soccer, gaelic football, hurling, hockey, tennis, athletics). So keeping the grass maintained at a reasonable height is important for a lot of that activity to continue.

And that is activity within the guidelines, because it is only family groups - we know them all and they are sticking to not having friends/neighbours involved. Regardless of what would normally happen. And usually there is only 1 group out there at the time - but it is a big enough green that there could be 5/6 groups there well spread out and maintaining the social distancing necessary.

You don’t have to be a key worker to carry on working. If you can’t work from home and your company can meet the rules then I don’t see a problem. I am glad they are working as it keeps the place nice.

There were a team of 4 whizzing around one of my parks yesterday. I was pleased to see them as it gave a nice sense of normality. They were all far apart. They were also able to unlock the tennis court and kick my dogs ball out for me. Great that they are able to work and keep the parks looking spruce.

As someone else said, it’s not about whether someone is a key worker or not as to whether they carry on working. The advice is that if a job can be done at home then it should. Otherwise you should practice safe social distancing while working.

Until we enter a more full lock down, what they are doing is perfectly fine.

The key worker classification is only relevant for accessing childcare. Anyone else who can't work from home can still go to work.

No but he/she may have been redeployed to a key worker type role. My dh works for building maintenance type stuff for a council but this week has been doing food deliveries to the vulnerable.

Why do they need to be a key worker? They can social distance and seeing as they are getting paid they might as well do some work.

You are simply asked to work from home if you can. If that's not possible then you are allowed to work - the roadworks here are still ongoing for instance, there's no risk to the crew or public and it's important to continue where we can