icy pavements in Aberdeen

esio_trot

tr82 wrote: »

I think one useful thing would be for council employee contracts to be written in such a way that when bad weather comes that the paper shufflers in all these offices should be forced to grit the pavements or man the ploughs & gritters.

:rolleyes:

That's a bit of a ridiculous statement/suggestion is it not? Though unfortunately, you're not the first I've heard suggest it (though I believe the others were in jest).

Those who work in offices aren't usually just "shuffling papers" for the fun of it, there's usually a reason to it, otherwise the jobs wouldn't exist - how would you fancy calling up your local office for a query and not have the phone answered because the receptionist was off gritting? Not to mention the fact that office based staff aren't licensed/covered by liability insurance to operate any machinery. Then there are the health and safety implications of having staff in roles that they are not trained for - I could go on but I think you're getting the picture.

Sorry to rant but I just think that some people should probably consult their brains before clicking "submit reply".

[steps off soapbox]

As for the pavements, I'll echo that Edinburgh and the Lothians (and seemingly the rest of Scotland) have been just as bad - really white out there today.

borders_dude

tr82 wrote: »

I think one useful thing would be for council employee contracts to be written in such a way that when bad weather comes that the paper shufflers in all these offices should be forced to grit the pavements or man the ploughs & gritters.

I work for the City Council in Edinburgh, like most other council employees there is a clause written into my contract about doing other reasonable duties. but I think they would struggle to justify that extending to gritting pavements.

I rather think most employees, and indeed the unions would object to office based staff going out gritting!

esio_trot

thanks for adding that bordersdude, same council, my contract has the same clause in it.

tr82, the training etc I was referring to may be moving and handling for handling heavy loads of grit (only way an insurance company would cover for accidents at work I would imagine) and similar. You referred to snow plows and gritting vehicles before, I'd suggest they're a little more complex than shovels but hey, what am I do know, I don't use one!

I'm not denying that perhaps, some council roles could be restructured to be more efficient (I know my department is going through something similar as have others in recent months) but really, getting them to grit the pavements may be a step too far.

I'm just merely suggesting you open your eyes to the common sense part of the argument.

...and with that, sorry OP, please have your thread back now.

custardy

Hush-Puppy wrote: »

Edinburgh has been awful for the past few weeks! They've not even been gritting certain main roads, steep hills have been ignored and so have all pavements.

I called CLARENCE over a week ago to tell them that our street grit bin was almost empty and that I was concerned for our elderly neighbours. I was assured someone would be out 'soon' to fill it. We're still waiting.

They also left our wheelie bins for 2 weeks, with no-one knowing when they were to be emptied. So, not only were you slipping all over the place, you had wheelie bins to dodge around all over the pavements!

i saw 2 mini tractors gritting pavements on Friday in Duddingston
unfortunatly by that point in that area most ice had melted
never mind we have had all this fresh snow so off we go again

PS my pavement outside the house is all nicely cleared,if everyone did the same we would have far less issues

devils_vixen

Well 11am a tractor cleared the side streets out my way and at 1pm a gritter was finally spotted on the main road......not made any difference though as the road is still covered in flattened snow. I have 34inch leg and when walking the dog today the snow was half way up my shin!! Took my gran's JRT after and I lost her in the snow... looked like I was walking a snowball at the end of the leash:rotfl::rotfl:

rictus123

I live near Aberdeen! I was out on Xmas eve, thats the last time i was in and we got the train to save time as roads were a little dodgy for our 30 mile trip. When we came out the train station at union square it was just an ice rink. I fell and so did about 5 others in the 2 minutes i was in that area, everyone else was getting lucky but still slipping about everywhere it was a disgrace especially for such a busy day of the year. Lucky it was me and not a fragile old lady!

pilot2

Why should the hospitals pick up the tab for the upsurge in hospital accident and emergency cases due to non gritting- The councils have a duty of care to householders and this extends to properly gritting the roads and pavements. Aberdeen Council have abdicated all responsibility and hopped off on holiday until 5/1/2010. Exactly what are council tax payments for? Surely the council tax employees dont expect OAPs to wield gritters and shovels. Time perhaps that the 'elected councillors' and associated paper shufflers woke up and actually did something constructive. Its an easy life on flexi time - handling new blackberrys - and stoking up expenses. Lets hope that the OAPS and similar vulnerable groups wake up and hold back their community tax until such times as Councils start to be fully accountable.

bathgatebuyer

I certainly know that most people would be happy to get stuck in if need be - myself and my neighbour took the scrapings of grit out the grit box half way up our street and sprayed it over the road which we'd also spent about 2 hours digging up the snow from.

There are a number of streets around the New Town which have turned into an ice rink for both cars and pedestrians. One road that leads onto Broughton Street today was just covered in black ice, so although the main road itself was clear, the traffic trying to join it from Albany Street (which is a really well used road) was just sliding into Broughton Street itself. I fell over on the ice itself while walking on it in hillwalking boots.

It's so dangerous. I fell last year and ended up in hospital, and I'm determined that the same thing is not happening again this year!

flyingscotno1

The problem is however had the councils gritted all the roads and pavements they would now be out of grit as they are struggling to get supplies from the mines.

tr82 wrote: »

And whilst not wanting to derail this thread, I find it absolutely bizarre that so many people are employed by the councils. South Lanarkshire, for example, has nearly 16,000 employees with a population of approx 300,000.

Of that 300,000, 60.2% are of working age (2001 census).

So that means nearly 9% of the working age population work for the council. They don't generate money for private industry, they haven't a clue about products, services, profit, investment. They just consume taxpayers money..

South Lanarkshire is a huge area. It stretches down to the Dumfries area and with the one of the biggest towns in EK, as well as places like Hamilton, Rutherglen etc. There are going to be huge numbers of teachers, social workers, road workers and planning officers required to cover that area and workload. In my time at school I think we must have had 18 teachers in a primary school and 50 teachers at least at high school in all departments not including all the janitors, cleaners and dinner staff. When you think of all the schools in EK alone that is a big number.

There is no doubt some streamlining of people might be as needed, but whenever I have dealt with councils, they are incredibly busy and nice people. To say they don't have a clue about profit, investment is a bit of a sweeping generalisation, a good number moved from private industry and statements like that show little in sites into council business.

pogofish

borders_dude wrote: »

but I think they would struggle to justify that extending to gritting pavements.

I rather think most employees, and indeed the unions would object to office based staff going out gritting!

Dunno - My work asks every year for volunteers to be on-call for snow clearing/gritting duties and provided you are fit for the work, anyone can put their name down.

As for Aberdeen's pavements - Still pretty awful, although they did finally get gritted/cleared as far as my GF's flat, just out of the centre by Monday PM but she went all her length last week - the bruise on her backside is most impressive! They have still got to get as far as my street and at least three of my elderly neighbours have been effectively housebound sine the snow started, we have been doing their shoping & other errands for them.