Vehicles and cellphones

[Isetech]

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.

[Andrew_van_Zyl]

It drives me mad too. I put my teams phones together, and no one, including me, answers a call while we work.

But that's because it's only me and 2 assistants.

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

[Thys LOW Elektries]

Even worse is those earplugs people wear. They listen to music while working or even have conversations and not concentrate on what they are doing, also they can't hear warnings or people calling them. Those plugs are as dangerous as texting while driving

[Isetech]

Yip agree 100%.

The joke is people are that stupid that they dont know or care that you can see they are online and even when they are texting, however it works in our favour because if there is an accident or someone is injured on site, the phone can be used as evidence against that person.

The other way it works in our favour, you can send an instruction via the phone (whattsapp) see they have read it, if for some reason they dont apply the instruction, for example, they arrive back at work after 3 days off due to chest pains and coughing, because they didn't wear the mask as per instruction, you could challenge the paying them for the 3 days

I am slowly learning to use the device as a means to benefit the company, like times sheets, daily records of work done and photos of work before during and after which are time stamped.

Daily timesheets, updated as the day progresses, so you can see if they are running behind, etc etc.



Even worse is those earplugs people wear. They listen to music while working or even have conversations and not concentrate on what they are doing, also they can't hear warnings or people calling them. Those plugs are as dangerous as texting while driving

[Derlyn]

Remember, Whatsapp can be set that senders cannot see if the message has been read or not.

Most attorneys use this setting 😂😂

[Blurock]

The joke is people are that stupid that they don't know or care that you can see they are online and even when they are texting, however it works in our favour because if there is an accident or someone is injured on site, the phone can be used as evidence against that person.

That's the reason why I now always drive with a car cam so that I have evidence in case of an accident. The SUV's and expensive cars with no number plates and dark tinted windows so that you cannot see the occupants is a risk to every law abiding citizen. These are gangsters who will shoot you without blinking an eye.