Which law should I break?
- From: Paul <dontspamme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 20:59:33 +0100
OK, it is a rhetorical question I suppose but allow me to explain and
you will understand.
I am a window cleaner. I live in the south east of England.
In April 2005, the law governing working at height was changed (WAHD)
- Working at Height Directive, April 2005. In short, the bit that
affects my trade is the bit about working on a ladder being a last
resort (it doesn't word it that way but that's the gist of it). OK,
so I have invested thousands of pounds of borrowed money to upgrade my
business to get around this - and so that I can quote for work that
was previously inaccessible to me. I needed a water tank, water
trolley, water purification units (reverse osmosis and de-ionisation).
In order to carry that lot around, I also needed to buy a much bigger
van due to the weight of the water. I also purchased poles and
brushes and pumps. Window cleaning these days ought to be carried out
from ground level where possible with an extendible pole, a brush, and
pure water. The size of the loan taken out means that I need to earn
more money so that I can repay it. This would have been no problem as
the equipment itself would allow me to increase my income
considerably.
OK so far.
Now, as I live in the south-east, I am in the middle of an area where
a drought order will almost certainly be implemented very shortly. One
of the requested conditions of the drought order is that window
cleaning be banned. I understand that this may have been eased
slightly to just ban the type of equipment that I have bought as the
use more water (about 1 litre per minute while operating). Cleaning
windows the more traditional way (which has been outlawed by H & S)
can be achieved using as little as 5 - 10 litres per day so I can see
their viewpoint. However, when one considers that a certain fizzy
drinks company in Kent are using 5 litres of water for every litre of
fizzyade they produce, window cleaning pales into insignificance.
They're exempt BTW as their tooth rotting gunk is classified as
"foodstuff".
So, I am faced with a choice of breaking Health & Safety legislation
or breaching a drought order (almost certainly as it's not yet been
implemented).
The water companies have stated that we can import water from outside
the drought affected area. Although this is technically possible, it
would be impractical to do a 250 mile round trip every other day -
especially as the water needs to be purified as well. The
purification process takes time. They have stated that they can
analyse the water in peoples water tanks to check where it has come
from - presumably by examining which proportions of mineral deposits
are in the water. I'm not sure if this could be done accurately if
the water had already been purified though. An added complication is
that I would not be allowed to buy tap water from an unlicensed
operator so I can't just turn up at a distant relative's house and
fill up. I would but technically, that's illegal too.
I'm no antagonist. I've been quite public spirited in recent times
really. I have cut my domestic use of water to the minimum by various
means. I have even been cleaning windows that I can reach from the
ground by traditional methods as they use little water.
I will be able to cope after a fashion. I will just have to break the
Health & Safety laws and hope I don't break my neck as well. Most of
my work is ground level or one floor up. However, many businesses
won't be able to cope. I am referring to businesses that clean taller
buildings by the Water Fed Pole (WFP) method. Also, there are
businesses that almost totally rely on supplying WFP equipment to
window cleaners. They would have a severe downturn in trade and may
not survive as they would be getting little, if any trade with window
cleaners in the southeast.
I'm wondering if there may be grounds for compensation for a business
that is severely affected.
Even by the water companies' (presumably inflated) estimates, all the
things requested in the drought order would only save about 4% of
usage (even by Sutton & East Surrey's own figures, their leakage rate
is about 15%).. There seems to be an element of picking on particular
trades because of their visibility (window cleaners, horticulturalists
etc). It may sound like a storm in a teacup and not very important.
However, if I were to work to the letter of the law and not revert
back to ladder usage, I would go bankrupt in the first week.
Homelessness could follow in the ensuing months. Bankrupt and
homeless because the water companies have failed to invest adequately
in the infrastructure (desalination plants, leak fixing etc) .
Even with using ladders I will be struggling as I am unlikely to be
earning sufficient to repay the loans I took out.
Anyway, there is a legal aspect to all this I'm sure. I'm not even
sure that I'm really asking a question. I guess I probably just need
to sound off a bit and express my anger in a way is isn't too
damaging.
Comments appreciated (but only if you think the water companies are a
bunch of wankers) :-)
.
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