If you have a business which requires staff using a company vehicle and a cellphone for site work, I am sure we all share the same challenges.

I am sure you can relate, you buy a vehicle to get your little operation going, eventually you grow, employ more staff and wonder why suddenly your operating costs become the biggest overhead, the vehicle has 150 000 km on the clock, been serviced and tyres replaced, you hand over the vehicle to the new guy and suddenly its becomes a huge expense.

How do you keep cost down?

You thought smoke breaks where an issue, we have a far bigger problem, I see it on site all day while I am working.

If you walk around any construction site, you will find a charge station or charge stations (an extension plug with a pile of cellphones and chargers). It has got so bad that my assistant spends more time answering his phone and chatting to mates and girlfriends than I do as the business owner.

What is the big deal, well firstly the customer is paying you an hourly rate, which is why I as the business owner dont carry my phone on me while working on site. I have had a customer crap on me because he couldn't get hold of me while I was working on his site, he tried 7 times to get hold of me, to ask me a question about the equipment he was purchasing for 'the site.

My response: You have staff sitting in the office who could take a message and pass it on to me or he could have got the lady in the office to walk with the companies cordless phone to where I was working and ask the question.

As I pointed out to him, I would be happy to keep my phone on me and answer it all day long and chat to people while charging him my hourly rate hour, he quickly changed his attitude.

The way things are going the new guy will be gone soon, unless we can find a solution for the cellphone distraction, the last guy was let go for the same reason and the one before him.

Do you think we should have 10 minute breaks every hour for staff to message and keep up with the socials, or just ban cellphones on site.

It is bad enough that you have to deal with all the people on the roads texting and driving, we now have them on site working amongst us.

What is the big deal, well safety for other people working on the site, time lost and more important the distraction while a person is lets saying wiring a DB, now your phone is going beep beep in your pocket or it vibrating because you dont want anyone to hear it, you stop read the message, now your focus on the job is gone, you forget to tighten the stove breaker wire and you have a potent fire hazard, I know it sounds a bit extreme, in fact it is a lot worse.

Can anyone tell me why a person digging a hole in the ground would require a cellphone during working hours?

I can understand why there are piles of phones at ever socket outlet from early in the morning, free electricity for charging.

I thought the solution would be to ban smart phones on site, so I allowed old nokia phones on site, but I have notice this has also become a problem, thanks to free calls, it has got so bad that my assistant now has headphones so that he doesn't get into trouble for standing around holding the phone, he can work and chat all day.