Another good day, no timed things to do, kept busy.
One of the main things was that our friends round the corner were due to have their big conifer tree taken down, and they had invited me round to ask the contractor if he would like to offload the logs my way.
So, quite early, we saw the chap up a ladder cutting side branches off with loppers and a bow saw, and then cutting the tops off the tree with a chainsaw, on the top of the unsecured ladder about 10 metres off the ground, without a harness or any other safety equipment. I was astounded as tree felling is a dangerous job, and I wondered if he should have had to put on a harness or whether it is a choice. I went round to see the neighbours and they too had wondered why the tree-feller wasn't wearing a harness.
I spoke to the chap, not about his safety, but about whether he could let me have his waste materials. He told me that he sold logs and that the tree he was taking down would give him £50 worth of logs. I was happy to hear that, as I'm always happy to hear of businesses connected to renewables. I wished him well and came home.
I decided to ring the council to find out if he should be using safety equipment, and they put me in touch with the Health and Safety Executive, who took my details and basic details about the tree feller/tree fella, and asked me to email them with any photos, the address he was working at, etc.
An hour later, I was building a logpile next to the front door and the chap arrived, saying he was happy for me to have 'as many logs as I wanted'. I protested, saying that I was happy for him to take them and sell them on... he almost insisted that I take the wheelbarrow round and pick up a few lengths. What a dilemma! I had almost shopped this guy, and he turned out to be very friendly and generous. What to do? I had a chat with the neighbours and they were initially upset I'd had a conversation with the authorities, and we had a long talk about the wider effects of dangerous behaviour. The guy had his young son working with him, and my argument was that the father was risking his livelihood and even his life, and at worst, his son could lose his dad. I felt very uncomfortable with the situation, and only took two lengths of tree trunk, and didn't go back.
I decided to not email the HSE with the photos my youngest had taken, nor inform them of the chap's details, as I thought it very likely that he would work out who had 'grassed him up' and could come round and be less than friendly. But I still feel that he ought to have taken more care, not just for his own sake but for his family and the wider community.
Later, whilst I was doing more woody things, there was a huge thunderstorm and I came in. I only went back out later after dark to do a bit more wasp-nest management.
Lots of York Green Festival email traffic today, also putting up posters, and some Fiddlesticks stuff too. Also chopped up a half dozen mangoes to dry them. One of my favourite dried fruits.
Showing posts with label Health and Safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health and Safety. Show all posts
Got up late and spent time on the computer during the rest of the morning.
Through my 'Feedjit' widgit (which still thinks I'm in Leighton Buzzard!) I found http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/ 'Amused Cynisism' and http://www.charlescrawford.biz/ which have links to my 'How I Compost' photo post. Both these blogs have a lot of stuff worth looking through. I enjoyed some self-indulgent Facebook stuff, playing Scrabble whilst cooking the carrot soup on the woodstove for tonight's tea. I have over 20 games going on...
Also had a lot of emails to answer and various other things to do... research for my next column, which has a deadline next week.
A quiet inside afternoon... I went to school to pick up our youngest and was approached by a teacher who knows I'm somewhat keen on recycling, offering me a huge sack of envelopes to compost (at home) so I cycled back with about 20Kg of assorted envelopes and about 20Kg of fruit waste... since I've stopped composting at school they've been throwing away about 7Kg/day of fruit and veg material, this was a completely full plastic rubbish bin which I've been using to collect compostables in. By now, the school head teacher will have had a meeting with the Council waste people so I'm hoping to hear from either of them soon with a way forward. Only then will my anger, despair and disgust subside. If a school cannot recycle, what chance do we have for the future, when children see all the recyclable materials being thrown away.
I've another gripe with the school... there is a pre-school group based within Lord Deramore's, and they have milk in small drinks cartons. They would like to recycle these cartons, and the Council DOES have facilities... at the main civic amenity sites, such as Hazel Court. So, the pre school group asked me if I could collect these and take them for recycling. I said yes, could they be placed in a receptacle in the bins area? The pre school people asked the school if this could happen... and guess what? Apparently, someone from Health and Safety says they cannot! Can you believe it? I would happily deck the Health and Safety person at the school I'm so angry. So I will have to collect the sack of milk cartons as and when I can, the pre-school doesn't want them in the classroom as they might smell, and I think the obvious place to collect them is in the bins area which already has a bin for paper recycling (although it often has other things dumped in it, their quality control is so poor). What a shambles!
Anyway, came home and washed up, helped Gill get tea ready. Ben came round to dispense advice about the childrens' 'dongle' which has stopped working, and the reason my ADSL usage is so high... blame it in the BBC iPlayer which has been doing 'Peer to Peer' stuff and using my computer to send stuff on, apparently. Ben showed me how to turn off that function. At 6.15 I headed off to Tang Hall Community Centre for the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel. Four of us turned up, and had a really good discussion about the different planning applications, mainly house extensions to make (we assume!) student houses.
Then cycled over to the Groves to pick up a Freecycled clip-frame, and cycled slowly down my old street, Emerald St, where I lived for 13 years. Memories!
Back via Freshways where I had an accident with the clip frame. Damn. I did clear up the mess though... what a waste. Silly me.
Back home, all was peaceful and tea had gone down well... the boys got off to bed pretty easily and I stayed up working til after midnight, as usual with Gill snoozing beside me... lovely!
Through my 'Feedjit' widgit (which still thinks I'm in Leighton Buzzard!) I found http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/ 'Amused Cynisism' and http://www.charlescrawford.biz/ which have links to my 'How I Compost' photo post. Both these blogs have a lot of stuff worth looking through. I enjoyed some self-indulgent Facebook stuff, playing Scrabble whilst cooking the carrot soup on the woodstove for tonight's tea. I have over 20 games going on...
Also had a lot of emails to answer and various other things to do... research for my next column, which has a deadline next week.
A quiet inside afternoon... I went to school to pick up our youngest and was approached by a teacher who knows I'm somewhat keen on recycling, offering me a huge sack of envelopes to compost (at home) so I cycled back with about 20Kg of assorted envelopes and about 20Kg of fruit waste... since I've stopped composting at school they've been throwing away about 7Kg/day of fruit and veg material, this was a completely full plastic rubbish bin which I've been using to collect compostables in. By now, the school head teacher will have had a meeting with the Council waste people so I'm hoping to hear from either of them soon with a way forward. Only then will my anger, despair and disgust subside. If a school cannot recycle, what chance do we have for the future, when children see all the recyclable materials being thrown away.
I've another gripe with the school... there is a pre-school group based within Lord Deramore's, and they have milk in small drinks cartons. They would like to recycle these cartons, and the Council DOES have facilities... at the main civic amenity sites, such as Hazel Court. So, the pre school group asked me if I could collect these and take them for recycling. I said yes, could they be placed in a receptacle in the bins area? The pre school people asked the school if this could happen... and guess what? Apparently, someone from Health and Safety says they cannot! Can you believe it? I would happily deck the Health and Safety person at the school I'm so angry. So I will have to collect the sack of milk cartons as and when I can, the pre-school doesn't want them in the classroom as they might smell, and I think the obvious place to collect them is in the bins area which already has a bin for paper recycling (although it often has other things dumped in it, their quality control is so poor). What a shambles!
Anyway, came home and washed up, helped Gill get tea ready. Ben came round to dispense advice about the childrens' 'dongle' which has stopped working, and the reason my ADSL usage is so high... blame it in the BBC iPlayer which has been doing 'Peer to Peer' stuff and using my computer to send stuff on, apparently. Ben showed me how to turn off that function. At 6.15 I headed off to Tang Hall Community Centre for the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel. Four of us turned up, and had a really good discussion about the different planning applications, mainly house extensions to make (we assume!) student houses.
Then cycled over to the Groves to pick up a Freecycled clip-frame, and cycled slowly down my old street, Emerald St, where I lived for 13 years. Memories!
Back via Freshways where I had an accident with the clip frame. Damn. I did clear up the mess though... what a waste. Silly me.
Back home, all was peaceful and tea had gone down well... the boys got off to bed pretty easily and I stayed up working til after midnight, as usual with Gill snoozing beside me... lovely!
