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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:38 am
by James.Q
alright lads, well after 25 yrs plus the body is calling it a day after 4 months of physio and more painkillers, the verdict is im fooked my back wont take it any more and i need an op on my knee (happy days}.
so im getting rid of the last of my gear, pneumatic hog ring tools, laser levels, wackers, stringy mauls ext ext.
Question is best place i dont think much of ebay dont seem to get good pricess,(have just sold quite a bit on there)
so any ideas would be a great help
James 
btw sickness benifit of £100 a week is a joke all thease years of tax paying and you get nowt back,
so its time to re-train as what i aint got a clue lol im 43 next week so to old to be a toy boy and to skint to be a sugger daddy lol
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:42 pm
by Dave_L
Oh James I'm sorry to hear of your problems, hope you can find another career without too much of a struggle.
What can I suggest? Builders Merchant? Pretty mind-numbing but if you can give good advice etc and know the trade you could progress up the ladder perhaps?
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:23 pm
by Stuarty
Hard lines James, happens to the best as they say. I know of a few former tradesmen who ended up buggered then went on to become contract managers. Maybe not the way you want to play it but any option is worth exploring eh?
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:15 pm
by henpecked
£3000 for a CPCS crane license, sat on ur jaxi all day and top dollar 
Hp
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:01 pm
by James.Q
henpecked great idea but the clue is in the job title "ground worker" 2 rungs up a ladder is to high lmao :p 
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:50 pm
by lutonlagerlout
sorry to hear that james
a lot of ex builders seem to do cabbying and escort driving round here <cough cough>
there aint a lot out there right now,tbh. maybe try your local council
good luck
LLL
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:45 am
by oioisonnyboy
James.Q wrote:henpecked great idea but the clue is in the job title "ground worker" 2 rungs up a ladder is to high lmao :p
I suffer the same problem...4m in the ground no bother though?
What about hire driver? Drive a moxy all day long...and rest your brain as well as your body heheh. "A...B...Tip" repeat x 10million
h&s consultancy? yes there are plenty of ar5eholes in that game, but not a lot of them will have a knowledge of what they are writing method statements and risk assessments about. How can you safely assess the risks of building soakaways at 6m deep if you have never seen a manhole box being used...JQ site safety solutions? There are professional qualifications you can get at college for this sort of thing, and with the way building in general is going i.e. idiots like carillion, laing o'rourke galamast et al...you will be kept busy I am sure.
p.s. how much for a laser, eye and tripod? :;):
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:31 pm
by Tony McC
James - I'm happy for you to feature items on here and I can send an email to a few hundred contractors if you want.
Personally, I'd be interested in self-levelling laser kit
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:54 pm
by Injured
I be interested in a wacker if you could let me know what sort and how much etc
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:34 pm
by seanandruby
I think of all the jobs to have to call time on, ours is the worst. It's hard, physical, heart breaking heavy graft. Out in all weathers , freezing, boiling pissing down. So in my mind we must love it to suffer what it has to throw at us. Then theres the pain, injuries, blisters, knee joints, white finger, aching feet, neck, back, arse and ballbag. So i sypathise with you James now you have to throw the towel in, i know you will miss it. How about a tube train driver 30 to 50 k ???
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:19 pm
by James.Q
cheers lads, at least you had made me laugh gonna empty the garage and lock up this week. then i will post a full list of what i have left,
(to tony} yes i have a self leveling sokia laser level, i bought it secound hand when i was working in hatfield on the old aerodrome,
only used the bloody thing once. when on site they were always supplied
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:13 am
by mickg
>>>self leveling sokia laser level
they are the dogs bollocks, I bought one about 10 years ago what will go a distance of half a mile in every direction to plus or minus a midges dick
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:01 am
by seanandruby
oioisonnyboy wrote:h&s consultancy? yes there are plenty of ar5eholes in that game, but not a lot of them will have a knowledge of what they are writing method statements and risk assessments about. How can you safely assess the risks of building soakaways at 6m deep if you have never seen a manhole box being used...JQ site safety solutions? There are professional qualifications you can get at college for this sort of thing, and with the way building in general is going i.e. idiots like carillion, laing o'rourke galamast et al...you will be kept busy I am sure.
I work for one of these firms. I can vouch for orouke's and carillion and the training they give to be able to assess and write permits to work, permits to dig, method statements etc; is quite extensive. When i have to have a permit, i have to sign for it. If i'm not happy with it i wont go ahead until it is ammended. The person who writes the permits etc wont be doing the job, that is true. But all they are doing is drawing your attention to the dangers, hopefully the supervisor has sufficient experince to okay it. I think this is where the danger lies, as sometimes the supervisor has got to that position by nepatism, rather than experience. When you get a 20 something telling me it is safe to go ahead with a job that has an elliment of risk, it is up to me to say NO! And i do quite regular. I have always said that "supervisors etc, must be time served men", like in the old days. I have been asked to be a supervisor on many occasions. My answer is " put my money up and send me on the relavent courses". :;):
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:05 pm
by oioisonnyboy
seanandruby wrote:I have always said that "supervisors etc, must be time served men", like in the old days. I have been asked to be a supervisor on many occasions. My answer is " put my money up and send me on the relavent courses". :;):
at the moment my full time job is health and safety and quality assurance for the groundworks contractor on a carillion site.
The site manager is a second fix chippy
his trainee site manager is 22 and could not manage his way out of a rice pudding.
the site "IMS Co ordinator" (Health and safety woman to you and me) cannot be older than 25. She is Msc PgDip, but her last safety action was to call a meeting between myself, my foreman and the site QS and ask if we could remove all the 6f2 off the job "As its too difficult to walk on" no word of a lie.
It is a full time job to write out ad nauseam
Permit to dig
ladder permit (getting into manhole boxes)
hot works permit
daily plant inspection
weekly plant inspection
plant approval to work sheet (has it got a beacon and a beeper?)
plant operator quickhitch training sheet (3 pages for each operator and each type of quickhitch on site)
weekly task briefing cards (one for each method statement...aprox 50 per week)
daily workplace (excavation) inspection (to make sure the manhole boxes don't run away overnight)
weekly ladder inspection
individual daily HAVS log
toolbox talk registers
method statement awareness registers
risk assessment awareness registers
lifting plans (Because a concrete pump is a crane you know!!)
crane lifting operations checksheet
temporary works checklist
pre concrete checklist
concrete pour record
post concrete checklist
drainage run installation checklist
concrete cube submittal sheets
lift pits QA checklist
foundation QA checklist
coshh assessments and datasheets
monthly safety advisor inspection reports
etc. etc.
as well as all the method statements (no joke, I had to write one for "walking around site") and risk assessments.
A certain amount of health and safety is necessary. What is galling is when experienced workers are being dictated to or being forbidden to use tried and tested well established best practices by someone who is fresh out of college and is motivated only by the threat of an extenal audit. Their concern is not the safety of the subcontractor, but what will happen id they get busted during the next audit for allowing a hiab to be used without a lifting plan for example.
A lot of the time these people's qualifications are not related to construction at all. Thats why someone like JQ with a lot of experience at the shitey end could be useful in a consultancy or advisory role. From what I have seen of other groundworks firms local to me, they are not geared up for h&s and quality management in a way that will satisfy main contractors. A couple of one day courses on risk assessment and method statements is all I have got in the way of professional qualifications, but they are just a starting point. Othe than that it is easy to teach yourself.
I for one would rather take advice from someone like JQ than a "Site manager" whose experience in construction is limited to a couple of years on day release fom college and a shiney new hard hat and yellow coat.
rant over... :laugh:
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:23 pm
by henpecked
seanandruby wrote:How about a tube train driver 30 to 50 k ???
Lol
'ground worker' to 'under-ground worker'
Did you see what I did there?
Hp