Back bites: 24 January 2007

Whistle while you work
Engineers in Devon are trying work out why a recently refurbished bridge is whistling. The Shaldon Bridge was officially opened this week after £3m of strengthening and widening work, but it is thought changes in the bridge's structure could be deflecting the wind.
The bridge's piercing F-sharp tone is keeping residents awake at night, and on one occasion has even disrupted a church service.
Better get it sorted then - or a lightning bolt may do the job instead.

Bling and mastic
Some unlicensed contractors in the glazing sector are simpler to spot than others, if claims by Phil Martindale, managing director of Martindales, are to be believed.
While he describes those that are skilful but blissfully ignorant of regulations as the "silent killers", there should be no mistaking the cowboy who turns up in a "van that looks like a skip" and is covered in "bling and mastic".

With all that jewellery you should be able to hear them coming.

The flip-side to MSCs
No sooner have Gordon Brown and the HMRC started cracking down on managed service companies and pushing towards greater levels of direct employment in construction, than someone comes along and puts a spanner in the works.
A study by Hudson UK published last week shows that actually, 77% of UK bosses would like an annual quota of staff dismissals, with one in six reckoning they could target 20% of their workforce for dismissal without damaging productivity or morale.
But - and here's the snag - 75% of those surveyed said they wouldn't bring in such a system because they didn't want to introduce a climate of fear. When you look at it like that, maybe construction's methods of employment don't look so silly after all.

Eastern promise?
Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union this month - but will hordes of construction workers follow their Polish counterparts and come to the UK? CJ investigates.