21st December 2011, 10:58 PM
angi Wrote:I'm not over-fussed about cabins myself as long as the van isn't too crammed and it's a pain in the backside to get them on site, but most toilet hire companies only do two-week minimum hire these days which makes it less likely that we can get one. If anyone knows of a national company or little local ones that actually do one week hire, let me know!
We get cabins by the day, you can get a towable groundhog unit delivered down farm tracks and across fields if its not too boggy: heater, lights, microwave, hot water and sink, drinking water, toilet, drying space in the genny room etc etc. Two weeks for a toilet? I don't know where you are, but we regularly have a portaloo on weekly hire. The main issue is that they only pick up when they are in that area, but its never been a problem. If you can't get a groundhog unit, then you can hire welfare vans that are self-contained and you can drive them around big sites. All this will be covered in next DF newsletter.
CDM regs say the client must provide welfare on CDM sites, the HSE guidelines do accept that it may be difficult on some sites, but anything beyond a couple of days needs welfare inmy opinion, especially this time of year. If you can't get a cabin, or share one that's already there, does your company have water butts, washing up bowls and soap etc etc and a means of heating water? You might not be bothered about cabins, but some of us like being able to dry our kit, or have space to stretch our legs or do paperwork. Or even to just store tools so it doesn't take 5 minutes to get the stuff out of the back of the van each shift.