Working at Christmas - Michael Rendall's story - IT Service

While many of us are enjoying a few days off during the festive season, spare a thought for those who will be on duty during the 12 days of Christmas, helping make this time special for others on their own, taking care of the vulnerable and ensuring our roads are safe to travel on, to name but a few. From all aspects of caring, whether that be residential, home or social care to the pier masters, tugs crews and ferry workers to the on-call highway officers, roads operatives and garage mechanics, they all play a vital role in making sure the Council’s services continue over the festive period.

Here is Michael Rendall’s story.

Most of us might be dreaming of a white Christmas – but a dose of the cold stuff can cause all manner of problems for the Council’s IT team – meaning their technicians need to be on hand at short notice to get vital Council systems back up and running.

“Our radio links to Council buildings – which provide internet and information systems connections – can be badly affected by extreme weather, whether that be strong winds or heavy snow,” explained Michael Rendall from the Council’s IT team.

“In this digital age, loss of internet connection is a huge hassle for any of us, but for some of our Council services it can be hugely problematic.  Marine Services for example, absolutely rely on their IT set-up to run safe harbor operations through their vehicle trafficking system (VTS). If that goes down - and stays down for a long period - the implications could be catastrophic.

Michael will be on call throughout the festive period to make sure that systems stay online – bringing in specialist third-party help as and when required.

He said: “Sometimes it can be something quite simple and the member of staff just needs to be talked through how to fix the problem. Other times it might be something more serious and the IT service will pull together as a team to fix it – bringing in specialist contractors if needed.  Thankfully, the reliability of our set-up means that those more serious situations are few and far between and, like I say, usually down to circumstances outwith our control – like the weather.”

Michael will be keeping a close eye on their phones over the festive break.

“If I’m heading out and about,” said Michael, “I have my phone on vibrate in my pocket and I usually try and sit by the door, so I can make a swift exit – and get to where I need to be, whether that’s out to Scapa or to one of the care homes – or even to my own house where I can fix most things remotely.”

“Staff are always glad to see us,” he said, “but they are always happy to see us go too, because that means we’ve fixed the issue – and they can get on with the job of running these vital services.”