Gritty Issues

OK it has to be said that it is pretty chilly out there, the coldest we have experienced in a good few years, and for a longer period of time than we have become used to in recent years.

BUT that being said, the conditions don’t exactly break records, we have had colder weather, we have had more snow, we have had longer periods of cold, even in my lifetime we have had it worse than it is currently.

So why, tell me, does the whole country virtually grind to a halt? in Bedford Borough we have had massive school closures this week, as most counties have experienced, we have also had 2 days when the Borough Transport Department have refused to run a service, to schools or day centres, forcing the schools to close due to not being able to get the children in, and all because of a bit of ice, here in Bedford we have escaped the worst of the snow, only had a few inches, and the roads have remained fairly clear.

SO what’s going wrong? well, for a start, as we are well aware there are inadequate stocks of grit to salt all the roads, this is not a fault of the length and severity of the cold weather it is because councils up and down the country have deliberately reduced the amount of salt the stockpile over recent years, you see I know having been in the bulk haulage industry for many years that most councils generally stock up with salt in the summer and then as the stocks get used up during the cold weather they get top ups but the idea is to have enough stocks to generally last a significant time of tough winter but a number of years back, following several mild winters councils up and down the country decided they didn’t need as much salt in stock, so reduced the amount of salt they stockpiled, this to save money, it is this decision alone that has lead to the drastic shortage of salt currently available, it has also resulted in significant additional costs as the councils will be paying huge premiums on salt prices/delivery charges at the moment compared to the stockpiling costs during the summer, when it can be run in on back-loads and at a steady rate.

The whole point of stockpiling something like salt is to be prepared for the worst case scenario, regardless of the fact we have not had it that bad over the past few years, after all if hospitals didn’t build in a ‘worst case’ scenario in their planning they would be in a right mess at times, it is essential to make contingency planning in every circumstance and to know how you will deal with a variety of unexpected and extreme difficulties, such as extreme flooding, heatwaves, terrorist attacks, extreme cold weather, serious pileups on motorways, we can’t just say, well it hasn’t happened for x amount of years so lets not plan for it, the whole idea of contingency planning is preparing for the effects of the unexpected. where is the contingency planning from the councils for cold weather? it is certainly woefully inadequate.

I can recall about 10 or more years back, Joy would be able to tell me the exact year, we had a major fire where I worked, several units were burnt to the ground, it was a pretty frightening event to have experienced and was rather close for comfort, however as a company, we lost 1 days trading as a result of the fire and then we were back up and running, in fact we lost half a day in the office and back to work the next day, some of our tenants, who occupied buildings which had been burnt down were relocated, either within our facilities or elsewhere, within days of the fire, our offices were not burnt down but they could have been, had they been we would still have been up and running the following day, because we had adequate contingency to be able to move the whole operation to run out of a caravan if necessary, or work from home or whatever was required to get things moving, we would have just plugged some computers in, uploaded backup data and away we would have gone. where is this kind of contingency planning within the councils around the country? No Commercial company could survive without the ability to put into place contingency planning.

It is fair enough for the whole country to be thrown into turmoil on the first day (usually the only day) of extreme weather, several inches of snow, but after 1 day we should have had the whole contingency operation swing into place and get the country back up and running.

Most of the problems being experienced around the country can be pinned on failures of either the transport infrastructure or the councils of this country, e.g. the rail companies who should by now be able to offer a near normal service are still telling us not to travel because services are severely disrupted.

I reserve my biggest criticism for the councils and national government, because these are the decision makes who have made decisions that have caused us to be in such a mess, the roads are having inadequate gritting, I am not talking about the fact that side roads are not gritted, they never are and people should just allow for this and drive with extreme care, I am talking about inadequate grit being laid on the major roads and bus routes, this has a knock on effect for public transport and private car drivers alike but also it is this issue which has caused the same councils to say that it is too dangerous to put their own fleet on the road, we dears the solution is in YOUR hands, grit the roads correctly, oh I forgot you cant because you haven’t allowed for this in your salt stockpiles have you?

And  the schools, closed because of health and safety concerns of pupils moving around the school, well let me tell you that we have been out and about this past few weeks and companies, people who’s survival depends on having customers coming into their premises, have got it sorted, they have cleared and gritted paths and car parks, why can’t schools and council facilities do the same?

Surely it is actually safer for pupils to be in school learning, in nice warm classrooms, than being out and about in these conditions, where they are more likely to be falling over or having accidents on the ice or even being driven around and being involved in a car accident.

At home here we have obtained a few bags of salt and have continually applied it to our drive in order to prevent the ice and snow causing us difficulties, so why is it such a difficult thing for councils to do the same thing?

Health and Safety is generally the major reason being cited for closures and failure to run services, but if the councils were really concerned about the safety of the children they would make it possible for them to be in the schools, where they are adequately occupied and safely kept within the schools, schools which have worked at getting the site safe by putting salt out and clearing the snow.

Also, having been around the town, why are the pedestrian areas not salted at all? surely this is creating a huge health and safety problem?

The solutions from the Council’s point of view seems to be to tell us to all stay at home and wait until it thaws! Not really very adequate.

The other major reason, cited by schools, for not opening seems to be the ‘extreme difficulties’ that teachers face in trying to get into school, we I have news for you, every other employee, in every other sphere of work has the same difficulties yet there is a far higher percentage of these workers getting through successfully, it is true to say that teachers do travel a lot further to work/school than they used to, its just the way things are these days, but I would venture to suggest, from purely anecdotal evidence, that the average commute for teachers is still nowhere near as far as the average commute for other workers. Therefore if other employees manage to ge to work why can’t teachers? they don’t face any greater a difficulty than other employees do, I would suggest that the majority of staff in other vocations who are not getting in are not taking time off because of the weather but because their children are at home, unable to get in because the school is closed.

There has been a huge emphasis, in the news, on the cost to the business community in lost revenue and reduced productivity, because of the ‘big freeze’ but it is my view that the Government, Councils and Council Staff are the major cause of the lack of productivity and therefore the  of GB Ltd over the past week or so, in terms of school closures preventing other employees getting to work as they have to look after the children and in terms of failure to provide adequate grit for the roads.

I guess that teachers are not going to be willing to give up their Half Term Holidays to make up for lost teaching time? no I thought not! But those who have lost days at work because they have had to care for their children will inevitably either loose income or loose some of their holiday, seems a little unfair really doesn’t it? I am fortunate in that I have the ability to be flexible in my working pattern and do work from home where possible, so we are able to cope with the situation a little easier than most.

As for the council cancelling their transport, due to health and safety, do they not realise that some of us still have to get out and about and do so successfully, indeed it is resulting, in some cases in a greater risk of accidents as parents/carers bring their charges in to the day centres/school, where they are open themselves, resulting in more vehicle movements around these establishments, or as they get their children/adults out to garden centres or other places to keep them occupied, have you ever tried keeping an 8 year old hyperactive whirlwind at home for a whole week without getting outside?

By my calculations, the Borough council are running about half their regular services, therefore surely every resident of Bedford should be entitled to a rebate for half the services not provided, amounting to about £10 per household per week, but my guess is that this wont happen.

Well, I think that is enough of a rant from me! [houdini]