Contractor paid 1,000 euro to change three lightbulbs in a Garda station.

Run_to_da_hills · 29-04-2009 8:35am #1

A contractor was paid more than 1,000 euro to replace three lightbulbs at a Garda station, it has been claimed.

The Garda Representative Association blamed the Office of Public Works for what it branded the "blundering incompetence".

Michael O'Boyce, GRA President, unleashed a stinging attack on the State procurement body, demanding it be abolished for allegedly squandering public money.

I think I am in the wrong trade

http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/ireland/contractor-paid-1000-to-change-three-garda-station-lightbulbs-408662.html

pow wow · 29-04-2009 8:38am

I'll refrain from the 'how many gardai does it take to change a lightbulb' joke. Apparently it's beyond their capabilities.

:D

drunkmonkey · 29-04-2009 8:39am

it costs €28,000 each time to clean the windows in the public offices in Naas, To make things worse they forked out a load of cash when building for self cleaning glass which needs to be cleaned

ohh to be in the public service...what a wonderfull life it must be..

ITDept · 29-04-2009 8:41am

I'd have done it for €995.

MagicMarker · 29-04-2009 8:43am

To be fair, it could have been one of the long tubey lights.

Don't you need a doctorate to change one of those things?

tfitzgerald · 29-04-2009 8:45am

nah what happened there is that the local gard got €450 his brother in law the contractor got €450 and they paid the local handy man €100 to put in the bulbs .everyone happy so whats the problem

omyatari · 29-04-2009 9:10am

economic cri-what-now?

the worst thing about it is, the garda not able to change a lightbulb themselves ???
for someone in charge of safty and regulations, you'd like them to at LEAST be able to change one of them things...

WindSock · 29-04-2009 9:13am

Staff in hospitals aren't allowed to change light bulbs, they have to hire people in to do it. I would imagine it's the same for the Gardai.

pow wow · 29-04-2009 9:14am

WindSock wrote: »

Staff in hospitals aren't allowed to change light bulbs, they have to hire people in to do it. I would imagine it's the same for the Gardai.

It's the same in most workplaces....health and safety!

omyatari · 29-04-2009 9:19am

pow wow wrote: »

It's the same in most workplaces....health and safety!

true, it is like this in most places, but jesus...people driving to work in their car would be more dangerous than to change a fekcn lightbulb no?
well i suppose they have to keep the economy going one way or another...

Borneo Fnctn · 29-04-2009 9:20am

God this makes me proper sick. Gardai can't change lightbulbs because of health and safety!? I want somebody to hang for this.

WindSock · 29-04-2009 9:20am

pow wow wrote: »

It's the same in most workplaces....health and safety!

It's a load of old pants. Can't they just train a janitor to do it?

SoupyNorman · 29-04-2009 9:22am

jackpalance wrote: »

I want somebody to hang for this.

The execution contract will have to go out to tender.

Donny5 · 29-04-2009 9:22am

WindSock wrote: »

It's a load of old pants. Can't they just train a janitor to do it?

I can't believe people require training.

omyatari · 29-04-2009 9:23am

WindSock wrote: »

It's a load of old pants. Can't they just train a janitor to do it?

for a rough 5 grand maybe

egan007 · 29-04-2009 9:23am

omyatari wrote: »

the worst thing about it is, the garda not able to change a lightbulb themselves ???
for someone in charge of safty and regulations, you'd like them to at LEAST be able to change one of them things...

That's the most expensive option.

Think about it.

3 Guards relieved to form a committee on full pay.
3 New Guards to replace them.
3 Health and Safety Courses.
Purchase of ladder
Purchase of bulbs
Purchase of heat resistant gloves and safety goggles.
Independent assessment of risk factor of having 3 off duty guards on the premises.
Electrician to approve work
Insurance premium increase to cover work
3 Weeks paid leave due to stress for each Guard.

There is no way you would get that service for €1000 :P

Borneo Fnctn · 29-04-2009 9:23am

SoupyNorman wrote: »

The execution contract will have to go out to tender.

Oh yeah forgot about that. And they'll have to get silk rope to prevent injury.

Darragh29 · 29-04-2009 9:25am

I'd love to create a new documentary along the lines of Wife Swap, except this new documentary would be called Public Sector-PAYE Swap, where you would take a Public Sector worker and swap them for a week with a PAYE worker.

I'm in a warehouse here this morning with a mate of mine who owns a logistics company in Dublin and everybody multi tasks and covers everyone else and just get the job done. The guys moving around me here keep at the moment are loading trucks and picking stock and all getting stuck in, working until the job is done and then they go home and do the same the next day. This is an efficient business operation here where everyone works to keep the ship afloat. Compare this to the intrasigent Dublin Bus drivers yesterday that went on strike for being asked to POSSIBLY work an extra half an hour a day. These people working in the semi-states and in the public sector, they are removed from reality.

Where I'm standing at the moment, if a lightblub had to be changed, it would be changed in 2 minutes. If someone here was responsible for a 1,100 Euro invoice for changing 3 light bulbs, I think the Gardai would be called and it would be dealt with as fraud.

m@cc@ · 29-04-2009 9:26am

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

A contractor was paid more than 1,000 euro to replace three lightbulbs at a Garda station, it has been claimed.

The Garda Representative Association blamed the Office of Public Works for what it branded the "blundering incompetence".

Michael O'Boyce, GRA President, unleashed a stinging attack on the State procurement body, demanding it be abolished for allegedly squandering public money.

I think I am in the wrong trade

http://www.examiner.ie/breakingnews/ireland/contractor-paid-1000-to-change-three-garda-station-lightbulbs-408662.html

At least the GRA were able to shed some light on it.

tba · 29-04-2009 9:28am

egan007 wrote: »

That's the most expensive option.

Think about it.

3 Guards relieved to form a committee on full pay.
3 New Guards to replace them.
3 Health and Safety Courses.
Purchase of ladder
Purchase of bulbs
Purchase of heat resistant gloves and safety goggles.
Independent assessment of risk factor of having 3 off duty guards on the premises.
Electrician to approve work
Insurance premium increase to cover work
3 Weeks paid leave due to stress for each Guard.

There is no way you would get that service for €1000 :P

that is scarily accurate

29-04-2009 9:28am

WindSock wrote: »

Staff in hospitals aren't allowed to change light bulbs, they have to hire people in to do it. I would imagine it's the same for the Gardai.

Its true that the staff do not change the light bulbs but its the electricians that work for the hospitals who change the bulbs etc they dont have to actually hire someone just to change a bulb.

seamus · 29-04-2009 9:29am

pow wow wrote: »

It's the same in most workplaces....health and safety!

Actually it's to do with unions. The electrical contractors complained that changing lightbulbs fell under their remit rather than "General maintenance duties" and insisted that only they were qualified to change a fncking lightbulb, therefore the janitors were no longer permitted to do it.

Tradesmen...they're all a bunch of cowboys Ted!

pow wow · 29-04-2009 9:31am

WindSock wrote: »

It's a load of old pants. Can't they just train a janitor to do it?

Hey I wasn't advocating it! Legally it's a H&S issue and it's a problem most employers aren't willing to take a chance with tho, (serious hat on for a sec) I used to work in risk management and the odd things employees will do and then claim injury for would make your head spin.

"The lightbulb needed changing, and there was no ladder, so I stood on a couple of empty copier paper boxes on top of the desk to reach it, and then the boxes collapsed and I slipped off the desk..."

tinner777 · 29-04-2009 9:42am

hey its just not the unions, listen to this, in the storms last year in the ward i work in, the tv aerial got blown off the roof, phoned the people with the hse contract to fix it, a private company in cork, they quoted us €1800 to replace it!!!!!!
Also we had to build a four room building to host mental health tribunals, tendered for €160, 000. i built my house for that.

WindSock · 29-04-2009 9:43am

pow wow wrote: »

Hey I wasn't advocating it!

Oh I know, I was just putting the question out there generally

.

I have had to do a manual handling course here in my workplace and a fas safe pass. The safe pass cost about €100 for the day. Surely it would take less than that to give a cert to a janitor that qualifies them to use a ladder?
I hope this recplesshun weeds out this bull**** wasteage.

tfitzgerald · 29-04-2009 9:44am

m@cc@ wrote: »

At least the GRA were able to shed some light on it.

thats the best reply i have seen in a while:):)

but in fairness to the gards the unions would have had a fit if a non member changed the bulbs

m@cc@ · 29-04-2009 9:49am

Well, to give you an idea of the bureaucracy in public services. I used to work in a hospital as a student job. We needed a new tv so I brought an old one in that was lying at the house unused at home. But because it hadn't been given a safety check by the estates department, we couldn't use it. And they couldn't give it a safety check because it wasn't brand new.

Needless to say, a month later we got a brand new tv at the taxpayer's expense. :rolleyes:

Berty · 29-04-2009 10:02am

The HSE maintenance workers went on strike a few years back because a nurse changed a lightbulb. The hospitals were near shut down because of it because under HS(A) rules you cannot operate a hospital without maintenance crews.

Apparently you need to pass a course to use a pallet truck(not a forklift now), a fricking pallet truck. :rolleyes:

You need an electrician license to change a lightbulb.

In Ennis you need a PHD to work in McDonalds.

Yet. If you fail a driving test you can drive home. :mad:

AnonoBoy · 29-04-2009 10:09am

MagicMarker wrote: »

To be fair, it could have been one of the long tubey lights.

Don't you need a doctorate to change one of those things?

You do. That's why my kitchen has been lit by a desklamp from the past month. Feckin' difficult b*stards to change them tubey lights.

Saint_Mel · 29-04-2009 10:12am

Berty wrote: »

Apparently you need to pass a course to use a pallet truck(not a forklift now), a fricking pallet truck. :rolleyes:

I wish some of the lads I worked with before had done a pallet truck course

m@cc@ · 29-04-2009 10:12am

AnonoBoy wrote: »

You do. That's why my kitchen has been lit by a desklamp from the past month. Feckin' difficult b*stards to change them tubey lights.

I don't know what age your tube lights come from but mine are just a case of clicking in.

Contractor paid 1,000 euro to change three lightbulbs in a Garda station.

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