English

at the coal face, where the work is actually happening

Prepositional phrase

at the coal face

1. (Britain, idiomatic) To be directly engaged in the operations of a business, rather than in a hands-off, managerial position.

Synonyms

• in the trenches, where the rubber meets the road

See also

• front line
• day-to-day
• hands-on
• nitty-gritty
• nuts and bolts
• roll up one's sleeves

References

• Re: "at the coal face...", posted by Lewis on June 21, 2004, The Phrase Finder