Farmers help ISS clear the way in Oslo
As the snow covers Oslo in Norway, ISS gets help from hundreds of Norwegian farmers to keep the city’s road system clear.
Together with, among others, Mesta and Oslo Road, ISS is responsible for snow removal and salt or sand spreading in the Norwegian capital. In all, ISS an apparatus of about 300 contracted personnel, 260 in Oslo and 40 in the suburbs Asker and Bærum. Farmers from the eastern area are a majority, but the standby force also consists of construction workers, landscape gardeners, workmen, forest workers and others who work independently.
Being a farmer you often know how to maneuver a tractor and this comes in handy when it comes to removing snow from narrow sidewalks and parking lots filled with cars.
– The main reason we recruit farmers is historic. From the 1950s onwards, it was common for farmers to offer plowing snow and sanding in the city. They had the equipment and saw the opportunity for extra income, said Finn-Olav Lund, Supervisor in ISS Norway.
Enough with the snow
Nils Ivar Kirkeng from Rakkestad in Østfold is one of the farmers who have been doing this for years.
– I started in 1972. The farmers complain about the amounts of snow now, but it was worse then. The snow job was a good extra income. Gradually it has become a lifestyle. I like the job, but there is no need to go to the mountains during Easter, you can say. I’ve had enough of snow by then, said Kirkeng.
Notice is determined and implemented by ISS' operations managers in Oslo using computerized telephone calling. But if you have been in the game as long as Kirkeng, you know if it’s going to snow or not.
– I probably pay more attention to the weather reports than most people and go to town the night before snow fall. Then I won’t have to be a part of the traffic jam, which massive snow fall often leads to, he said.
Clients are the Public Roads Administration, the municipality, housing associations, businesses and homeowners.