MAIN FEATURE


With stories abounding of haulage companies effectively attempting to ‘poach’


drivers from other


sectors, the impact of fewer drivers within the water sector could be highly detrimental across the sector as a whole.


within the water sector, from deliveries of essential products etc. to water and sewerage treatment plants, through deliveries of essential equipment to pumping stations and other off-site locations, to deliveries of pipes and other materials to worksites as well as driver operators for systems like drain clearing and jetting or simple repair operations, could be highly detrimental across the sector as a whole. Even with increased testing facilities and training there will be an extensive lead- time before any home-grown source of drivers will become effective and useful to the industry. In the meantime, what does the industry do, unless it joins in the ‘poaching’ game to see where it can access existing driver skills. This can only increase costs as drivers looking to move will demand higher wages, better conditions and shorter hours. This really would become a ‘sellers-market’!


On the other hand, the continuing presence of the Covid-19 virus will mean that at times there will be a need for quarantine procedures and therefore time off work, even for those that are fully vaccinated, as they may still fall ill to some extent. Vaccines do not prevent the disease just minimise some of its effects. This will mean is that the skilled workforce may need to be extended over and above any ‘normal’ number of personnel that would usually be expected, simply to cover this shortfall, unless the employer is happy to continue to be behind on it schedules irrespective of the consequences to its service or reputation. This may be good for the employment figures in the short-term but what effect will this have once and if the need for an overstocked workforce to cover such labour short falls passes by?


Another aspect mentioned above is the impact of both Brexit and Covid of product and materials availability. Yes, there have and to some extent continue to be problems associated with the cross-border trade and movement of goods. This should however


10


smooth out once the companies involved truly get their heads around the new levels of paperwork/technology use that is now involved. Whilst this is taking longer to happen than anyone might like it will happen, largely because on both sides of this border there is money involved and as a driver to achieving efficiency money really does talk!


Where there has been something of a problem, touched on by Edward Naylor previously, is the availability of raw materials. It may not be at first obvious, but the fact that during the periods of lockdown that have been imposed due to the Covid pandemic, the requirement for road fuel has of course dropped considerably. Some may ask, so what, that is good for the green-house gas emissions problem at least for the short-term. Maybe so. But by-product from refineries is part of the supply chain for the plastics industry as raw materials for the manufacture of pipes. Whilst demand for fuel has risen sharply and fuel prices have risen alongside this, there will still be another of those time lags before the by- product production matches demand for the plastics sector, even with increasing recycling. Many plastic products cannot simply be made with recycled plastics due to the performance criteria they have to fulfil and so need new sources of raw materials for the manufacturing process.


These are just a few of the points that appear to underpin the requirements of the water and sewerage sectors at the present time and are those that may be needed to be addressed at a higher level than just within the industry itself. Only Government can address the workforce availability question and may need to bite the bullet and at least in the short term throw open doors to those from overseas that may be able to fill the current shortfall. The sooner the better for us all in this respect (this author’s supermarket shelves look emptier every week!).


Product availability and imported raw materials | October 2021 | www.draintraderltd.com


may be the other area that will need to be addressed at the highest level and politicians of all persuasions both domestic and international may need to pull in their political horns, at least of the time being, and look at and review what is best for the people they are there to serve rather the trying to be seen playing political one-upmanship games, advancing careers or political ideals they may be trying to promote!


Whatever the politics of the situations that need to be addressed by those in positions of power, let us not forget that the UK water and sewerage industry has been doing a sterling job despite all of the challenges that Brexit and Covid have thrown at it over the past 18 months and continues to do so, for which we are all very grateful. We all still get a pretty regular supply of drinking water (even if the there is still the odd newsworthy burst along the way). We can all still flush our toilets and run our baths (or should that be take our showers in this green-footprint age) and still, for those that have them, run our washing machines and dishwashers.


Whilst it may have been good to hear directly from the industry’s leading authorities on these subjects it must be remembered that the industry does need to be supported not just by Government and the supply chain but also by the end-user. But for now, we can see that the industry has shown great resilience to the problems it has faced and will continue to face until the aforementioned difficulties are addressed. In the meantime, at least from this author, thank you to those that contributed their various if often similar opinions for this article and, to the industry itself thank you for the good works in addressing these challenges, long may you continue.


Thanks again to the few that contributed to this piece, and a massive thank you to Ian Clarke for doing this at very short notice.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76