How many people does it take to change a light bulb in Heathrow's terminal 5 ?

[Maestro]

Wirewalkers to the rescue at Heathrow after T5 goes dark because staff haven't been able to change a lightbulb for FIVE YEARS

• Most of the bulbs in the terminal's departure lounge have now blown
• But none have been replaced as there is no safe way to reach them
• Plan to change the bulbs will take four months and cost millions of pounds

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 12:00 GMT, 24 November 2013 | UPDATED: 16:57 GMT, 24 November 2013

How many people does it take to change a light bulb in the roof inside Heathrow airport's Terminal 5?

Nobody really knows because it has never been done.

The departures concourse of the £4.3 billion terminal, which was designed by British architect Lord Richard Rogers, has become increasingly dark since it opened in 2008 as 60 per cent of the down lights fitted to the ceiling have blown.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512663/Heathrow-built-Terminal-5-way-changing-lightbulbs.html#ixzz2lbanGRp0

-- Daily Mail 2013-11-14

[Scott]

Oh, goodness, this should be an interesting thread to moderate.

[folium]

What's pretty cheeky is that the piece in the DM is a straight copy and paste from the Exaro website yet the DM has the nerve to put in a byline " by a Daily Mail reporter". At least they do reference Exaro.

Edited November 25, 2013 by folium

[kevkev1888]

I used to work for a big high street electrical retailer in the UK, for many many years.

Back in the day, if a light bulb needed changing then someone would just change the bloody thing.

By the time I left, we needed subcontractors, who we could only call if we had more than 30% of lights out in any area and in more that 30% of the areas in store. Of course they charged a fortune and supplied all the hardware also at extortionate prices.

Probably one of the reasons why we also changed over the years from providing people with an honest service and providing the products they needed. To trying to rip the fuc_kers off for everything we could get.

Corporate Bullshit!

Edited November 25, 2013 by kevkev1888

[boomerangutang]

I'll do the job for $100/hour plus expenses. I do things at heights which few other can or are willing to do. Earlier, I was a chimney sweep and other cs's would call me when they had jobs too difficult. More recently, I constructed Asia's largest swing on the side of an 80 meter sheer limestone cliff. Got a job which Brits are too skittiesh, spooked or stumped to do? Call me.

[billd766]

I'll do the job for $100/hour plus expenses. I do things at heights which few other can or are willing to do. Earlier, I was a chimney sweep and other cs's would call me when they had jobs too difficult. More recently, I constructed Asia's largest swing on the side of an 80 meter sheer limestone cliff. Got a job which Brits are too skittiesh, spooked or stumped to do? Call me.

I suspect that it could have been done easily in the old days by a small team of guys with ladders or safety raisers.

Nowadays 'elf 'n' safety are in on the act and for example legally you must not lift more than 10 kg on your own but need an assistant. More than 20 kg you need a mechanical handling device and so on. If you use a ladder to climb more than 5 mrtres I think you MUST come down for a break every 20 minutes.

[Chicog]

Absolutely no doubt 'elf and safety are involved. In Thailand or China, they'd just have four blokes holding a bamboo pole while another shinned up it and changed the bulb.

[RickBradford]

A British blogger wrote in 2010

BA [British Airways] has been on my "no fly" list for some years, because of its unique combination of surly service by dowdy staff in shabby aeroplanes from dirty terminals. It is a sort of airborne metaphor for modern Britain.

[7by7]

Back in the early 80's I worked in the office of a large factory and one of the fluorescent tubes started to flash on and off.

It took two weeks for it to be changed.

When I said I'd do it I was told that wasn't possible, because union agreements and health and safety rules meant it had to be done by a qualified electrician!

[tw25rw]

In my first job as a teen I worked in a factory.. One time one of the big lights blew and someone had to go up.. There was nothing low enough or the ladder to lean on so I had to hold it while the guy climbed about 30 feet up. At one point I noticed people looking at me so I looked up and he was tilted back and holding on desperately, which earned my some abuse when he got down.. So if they need someone to hold the ladder at LHR, I think I have the experience to assist.

[MJP]

UK's unbearable now. I jacked in a contract just before I came back here down to this sort of ludicrous pettiness. 300 pages of risk assessments alone and this pair of clowns with nothing better to do than pick holes in them and stop the works. First time I'd ever been a sub-contractor, will always be Principal Contractor from this point onwards. This ain't light bulbs either. Asbestos in soils where a school is to be built!

Had an email from the H&S manager at work yesterday in fact. He's a lovely bloke, not one of these obstructive paranoid androids. He's retiring on Friday. He also mentioned three Directors who've jacked or retired. It's all down to this sort of nonsense which has nothing to do with health and safety and everything to do with lawyers and paranoia.

It's easy to change the lightbulbs at LHR. Just use a suitable scissor lift for access.

Edited November 25, 2013 by MJP

[7by7]

It's all down to this sort of nonsense which has nothing to do with health and safety and everything to do with lawyers and paranoia.

Indeed; and it's come from across the pond.

The same paranoia which means when you buy a takeaway coffee the cup bears the words "Caution; contents may be hot!"

To which my response is "They bloody well better be or I'm demanding my money back!"

[Credo]

Nice try, but I don't think the US is responsible because you can't change a light bulb.

[7by7]

No, but the paranoid attitude that has led to this ludicrous situation, as demonstrated by the warning on coffee cups, definitely did originate in the litigious USA.

[MJP]

Nice try, but I don't think the US is responsible because you can't change a light bulb.

It came from Bliar. The lawyer. Injury lawyers for you!

It's also come from the ludicrous RIDDOR legislation that means if a bloke has three days off or more as a result of an injury at work it's near impossible to pre-qualify for contracts now because "you have a RIDDOR".

Who cares, sick of the place, let it sink.

[boomerangutang]

If you buy a bed mattress in the US, it will have a sewn-on patch which starts out declaring, in bold letters, "Do not remove this patch under penalty of law!"

Nearly every product and service you spend money on - has some sort of money-back guarantee - if the the service turns out to be sub-standard. Exceptions: prostitutes and universities.

A person who is hiring a maid or a baby-sitter might go and search around for some recommendations - from others who could shed some light on that person's skills and character. Yet that same hirer won't do the same, prior to proposing marriage. This applies even more so; to middle aged farang men smitten by Thai bar girls.

[MJP]

If you buy a bed mattress in the US, it will have a sewn-on patch which starts out declaring, in bold letters, "Do not remove this patch under penalty of law!"

Nearly every product and service you spend money on - has some sort of money-back guarantee - if the the service turns out to be sub-standard. Exceptions: prostitutes and universities.

A person who is hiring a maid or a baby-sitter might go and search around for some recommendations - from others who could shed some light on that person's skills and character. Yet that same hirer won't do the same, prior to proposing marriage. This applies even more so; to middle aged farang men smitten by Thai bar girls.

Smashin' post!!!

[RickBradford]

These guys'll change the bulbs for less than $100/hour. How much less, I'm not sure, as I don't know the wage of a 1930s New York construction worker up 80 floors or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcq2HzadZRw

I've worked with Vietnamese crews who walk freehand up 45-degree angle outside steelwork with apparently no appreciation (or fear) of the fact that a single misstep, an errant pigeon, or a rogue piece of grease would mean Goodnight Vienna in a couple of seconds, even though their widow(s) would receive handsome compensation.

You can't squeeze all risk from life; the key is finding the right balance.