Walk Risk Assessments and Bag Weights

[blobneb]

Hi,

I work as a reserve at a small DO of ~20 people. This week I had a fairly weighty bag on my final loop, which takes around 45 mins on a heavy day and covers dozens of sets of steps and long driveways, going down a fairly steep slope. My DOM saw me trying to weigh the tray so I could find out the weight of my bag. As usual, the scales were unplugged. Anyway after it was weighed, he followed me around the office telling me that at 9.6kg, it wasn't overweight and "maybe this isn't the job for you" if I couldn't carry heavy bags all day.

I was saying that the loop needs to be shorter so that the bag can be broken up. He kept telling me that if the bag was too heavy, I should take a trolley. I kept saying that it's not a suitable loop for trolleys because there are multiple times where I would have to leave the trolley unattended for longer than a minute and this would result in me putting my job at risk if anything was to happen to the contents of the trolley.

We ended up having a meeting with him and my CWU rep, who were both under the impression that the old sliding scale bag weights were still in effect, as our H&S board had not been updated with the new agreement. I have been told two things and I'd like to know whether either of them are true.

1) The walk risk assessments are unavailable to the people actually doing the walk. We only get to see the hazard card, which consists of a list of hazards, not the agreed bag weight limits. Is this true?

2) If I have shoulder issues and hyper-flexibility in my ankles, this is not an "individual capability" issue, this only applies to 'vulnerable individuals' like pregnant women or young people.

I have a letter which says "where the walk is being covered by a different individual, that individual is required, as part of familiarisation with the walk hazards, to review the pouch weight arrangements for the walk, and raise any potential issues with their immediate supervisor" and "a local walk risk assessment will be carried out involving the Delivery Office Manager and the relevant delivery person."

Also:

"Each Delivery Round must be subjected to a Walk Risk Assessment. Where extreme terrain conditions are encountered on a particular walk, e.g. steep slopes or many stairs, pouch weights can be reduced to manage the musculoskeletal injury risks further. Ergonomic studies have provided guidance of 8 kg for greater than 1:12 slopes and 5 kg for greater than 1:8 slopes or predominantly going up stairs. There are several factors in setting appropriate values, such as the number of slopes or stairs encountered and the time period over which the pouch is emptied in delivering the mail. This should be determined through local walk risk assessment, working to the guidance provided in the new Royal Mail Letters Safety Standard SMS2.A2 and the associated WTL&L 'WRAP' Guidance, in consultation with the workforce and CWU Safety Representative. Note: Due to Risk Assessment the 16Kg Pouch doesn't have to be the first pouch on the walk and the 16kg/11kg weights can be reduced to for example 8kg/5kg on lots of stairs, steep inclines or due to individual capability following risk assessment."

[POSTMAN]

Hmmmmm......

that at 9.6kg, it wasn't overweight and "maybe this isn't the job for you" if I couldn't carry heavy bags all day

100% wrong, that should be split into 2 separate bags if lots of hills, stairs and unable to use a trolley. No postal worker 'should' or needs to carry heavy bags all day.

We ended up having a meeting with him and my CWU rep, who were both under the impression that the old sliding scale bag weights were still in effect

100% wrong again, the sliding bag weight scale is not in force anymore hence the mandatory use of trollies.

Your rep is an arse and quite frankly disgusting. And the manager is being........... a typical bullying manager.

The crux of this is the bag weight business you are 100% right they are 100% wrong, and wtf with the scales being unplugged?

Use a trolley as much as you can, if you can't because of terrain and security, loops/bag should be a 'comfortable' weight 5-8 kg.

Get your rep and screw to familiarise themselves with 2010 AND BEYOND AGREEMENT!


MANUAL HANDLING:
 In blocks of flats, offices etc. with a lift deliver from the top of the
flats to the bottom where possible. If there is no lift, work your way
up the flats from the bottom to the top so that you are not carrying
as much up the stairs.
 Only carry small bundles of mail / parcels otherwise use a pouch
(do not exceed 5kg).

http://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2 ... OWv1.1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[idontbelieveit]

My experience mirrors yours but much worse over many months. Please do not rely on the CWU and the Managers to deal with the issue or actually inform you. I recommend as I did raising a concern with the HSE that is what they are there for. Very easy to do online. They keep an independent check and will make sure that real change and accountability comes. Leave it in house and it will continue........ I chose not to, but you can keep your name back from your employer, it can be confidential. The more that issues are flagged up to the HSE in the same category, the more likely that change will be come, RM will have no choice.

[woofwoof]

lpietrzykowska@cwu.org

Contact Head of Health & Safety

Dave Joyce is the Union’s National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

[k979aaa]

With all due respect and that if the bloody union cannot stop Bullying and harassment of it's own members why the f**k should they care about bag weights!

[postman2014]

Why don't you just park in the middle of the loop and split it. Will actually save you time as the bag is lighter and easier to dig stuff out. Unless you fancy an argument I don't see the point in approaching a manager.

[robbertwhitton]

Typical Royal Mail once again,turns a blind eye to correct procedure,it’s scandalous to say the least,why does this continue to happen,why is it such an effort to get things done correctly,.?all these policies are put into place,not ignored because bit doesn’t work or suit,and may take longer,clueless management yet again not up to date with procedure

[blakeyboy]

Why not just half the bag and park in the middle.If you do the loop every day surely you know the best place to split it.whenever I have loops with too much in I’ll
always half the loop which will save you time as carrying less and will have less oversize