The Madness of King George .........

[Evans Electric]

..............  or rather the firm I worked for in the  '70s   .       

I'd just wrapped a job up so the gaffer grabs me to cover someone's  holidays  .      He'd got most of the firm working at the Kidderminster Sewage works  ,  this kind of weather .   "You'll love this",  one of the guys says as we  walk out into the baking sun  carrying picks & shovels  .     

Bloody gaffer had got all the sparks & apprentices digging cable trenches  .   Because not all sparks are built like hairy arsed brickies  many were akin to the POW's  on the Burma Railroad  !!!       And the cost !  Ten electricians digging long trenches  , slowly , probably earning four times the cost of  labourers  who can dig all day without effort .  

They had us on one long section where there was about  four feet of  earth & sand  ON TOP of the actual final ground  level  .  I suggested a whip round , bung the JCB driver to come across, level the ground & take the trench out  while we stsrted what we do best ,  setting up the cable drums etc   .   

The firm were useless at organising , supervisor who never left the office and an obnoxious gaffer.      

 

[rapparee]

So ten employees actually paid out of their own pocket for a digger driver and they then proceeded to get on with electrical work?

I think I would have sooner dug the trench. Let the company learn from its mistakes.

 

[Rutts35]

..............  or rather the firm I worked for in the  '70s   .       

I'd just wrapped a job up so the gaffer grabs me to cover someone's  holidays  .      He'd got most of the firm working at the Kidderminster Sewage works  ,  this kind of weather .   "You'll love this",  one of the guys says as we  walk out into the baking sun  carrying picks & shovels  .     

Bloody gaffer had got all the sparks & apprentices digging cable trenches  .   Because not all sparks are built like hairy arsed brickies  many were akin to the POW's  on the Burma Railroad  !!!       And the cost !  Ten electricians digging long trenches  , slowly , probably earning four times the cost of  labourers  who can dig all day without effort .  

They had us on one long section where there was about  four feet of  earth & sand  ON TOP of the actual final ground  level  .  I suggested a whip round , bung the JCB driver to come across, level the ground & take the trench out  while we stsrted what we do best ,  setting up the cable drums etc   .   

The firm were useless at organising , supervisor who never left the office and an obnoxious gaffer.      

I have a trench that needs digging, if you're available for that 16mm from my other thread ...... just saying.  :innocent

 

[Evans Electric]

So ten employees actually paid out of their own pocket for a digger driver and they then proceeded to get on with electrical work?

I think I would have sooner dug the trench. Let the company learn from its mistakes.

I think it cost us a fiver .    We were expected to dig out 4 ft of extra spoil then another  2 ft  .  

Actually a bloke died there .   Commissioning engineer for the pumping system .  We  finished for the week end ,  returned Monday , the guy was found  behind the panels in the control room  , covers off , three marks on his forehead from  the studs of a TP connection ,  not by me I hasten to add. 

H&S  unheard of in those days . 

 

[Tony S]

I’ve never had to dig a trench, concrete floors are my speciality. We supposedly had a civil gang that did any building work, I wouldn’t trust them to put a garden shed together.

“Anyone seem Tony?”

“Last seen heading to No. 2 switchroom with a jackhammer.”

I you want something doing, do it yourself.

I’m also quite nifty with a gas axe and a thermic lance.