Posted By Robert K Lewis Liam If the site management team are not supporting you in following through with this issue then I am afraid you are on a hiding to nothing. You can give all the information until the Sheffield flood occurs once more but they will continue to behave in whatever manner the site team allows. It is your supervvision on site that you need to address. Remind them how easy it is to sell houses which already have visible furry residents!!!!! Bob

Posted By The toecap It may be that the atmosphere is too smokey. There's nothing wrong with them eating there really. The problem is the disposal fo scraps. Ask them to put waste in bins properly. Use the carrot and stick approach. (no puns). Provide bins near by. If they fail to put stuff in the bin then get tough.

Posted By Robert K Lewis Why is it that we think allowing people to eat on site without local handwashing facilities is OK? Terry reflects the past that we have tried to eliminate. We set up decent welfare to allow people to eat hygienically so why take the laissez faire route? I just cannot understand why people even contemplate such a move. I can think of the reaction if we forced them to eat in this fashion. As for smokey atmospheres the answer is easy - make eating facilties totally non-smoking - they will be in the near future. There are also issues concerning fire risks, many of the operatives staying in houses are often the refugee smokers and I've seen a number of fires caught in time after allowing such practices. Bob

Posted By Liam Mc Conalogue Hi Guys, We have a smoking ban in all of our facilities- Company Policy. But I have a feeling someone may have hit the nail on the head- these guys simply do not want to mix. Totally agree with the post regarding the backing of the site management- Any others out there feel a bit out on their own when it comes to certain management teams?? We locate our facilities in a centralised location within the project so there is no reason regarding distance (a lesson we previously learned from a project too many years ago to remember!!) I guess unless we offer a free gourmet lunch we won't win in this situation. Liam

Posted By Jerry Lucey Hi Liam, Having worked on site for some time I can identify with what you are encountering and have found that there are many reasons why personnel on site choose not to eat in the canteens provided. I have found there are those who have eaten in their vans, cars or areas in which they are working for years and resent being told to do otherwise. In this case you will need to take an individual approach and persuade individuals to change the way they have done things for a long time. A blanket ban on eating outside canteen areas especially if implemented in what could be perceived as a heavy handed way will meet with resistance and is likely to fail. There are those who cite a smokey environment as the reason for not eating in the canteens, however once the smoking ban was introduced here in Ireland and was enforced on sites on which I worked I have found that the same people tended not to use the canteen. I have however found that certain trades tend to eat close to where the work e.g. plasters and studders. I have also found that it is normally those who are on price work and do not want to take breaks as breaks often involve them packing away tools, having to walk 10 or 15 minutes to a canteen etc. From personal experiance, I have found that you cannot expect to be sucessful in the short-term as you are attempting to change a culture and culture can only be changed by education and continued persuasion and communication on the risks etc. I have found it useful to identify areas where this is a particular issue and concentrate your housekeeping regime on these areas in order to minimise the risk of vermin. I have also found posters on Weil's disease etc effective in making people think about the risks. I am afraid there are no quick fixes in the real world for resolving this issue, particularly as you are dealing with an industry with a high personnel turnover but the culture on site can be changed with the right approach.