4 ms·
'Work and real life are complicated, and there are always time and budget pressures, so people just don't have the time and attention to pick up on all the thin
by dazc 6y ago
'Work and real life are complicated, and there are always time and budget pressures, so people just don't have the time and attention to pick up on all the things that we notice after the fact.'
Local Authorities (such as responsible for the building here) used to employ a 'site agent' to oversee works in order to ensure it was done to proper standard. He/she would have industry experience and considerable authority. Such a person would be unlikely to turn a blind eye to bad practice.
But this was seen as an unnecessary cost and contractors are now allowed to self-certify much of their own work.
Even where it is a legal requirement for some aspects to be signed-off by another party (such as compliance with building regulations) this can also be contracted out to firms who rely upon the goodwill of contractors for continuity of work. This leads to obvious conflicts of interest and perverse incentives to certify work that isn't up to scratch.
- tsjq 6y agoSounds a lot similar to the Boeing FAA self certification thingy.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoBut it lowers taxes, and voters will always vote for lower taxes, especially when the benefits aren’t seen as in the case of an effective preventative safety effort. And then something tragic happens, and the voters look for someone to blame, and measures are taken, sometimes overboard. But eventually, the attraction to lower taxes comes back and rinse, repeat.
- erulabs 6y ago> voters will always vote for lower taxes I hear this a lot, and I'm just not sure that's supported by evidence whatsoever. Partially because, well, here you are, ostensibly arguing for higher taxes, but also because the effective tax rates (in the US) on individuals have skyrocketed by... ~2% since 1979? It's hardly like the vast populace is voting anti-tax consistently - that flies in the face of both tax rate history and government spending (and the populist movement in general!). So, TLDR: _some voters_ will always vote for lower taxes. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-average-federal-tax-rates-all-households https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-averag...
- Gibbon1 6y agoAbout half my dads job was managing contracts for the government. My experience is most voters are completely unaware of that kind of work. More likely is the sleazier contractors[1] hate those guys and have been able to get governments to reduce or eliminate those positions. [1] Companies run by finance guys really hate contract oversight managers.
- buckminster 6y agoThe site agent is just the manager of the site. You're thinking of the clerk of works. But your point stands.