WPQ/WRAP

[Almighty1]

When your asked to fill out a WPQ form, shouldn't you really be going out on your walk with a safety rep to identify the hazards? I mean when a safety observation of say a lab is being conducted, do they do it from the other side of town sitting in their office? Of course they don't.... Besides are posties able to identify as many hazards on their walks as a trained safety rep could? just another box ticking exercise from the RM perhaps?

[Himaggen]

The amount of hazards and who can identify more is not really the issue now, is it?

If you are not capable of identifying things which are hazardous to you then you really have got problems. Nobody is expecting every possible scenario just the basics. Royal Mail expect an average of ten hazards per duty, if you cannot find sufficient animalss, low letterboxes, tripping hazards and slippery or uneven paths then I'd suggest you're not fit to go out onto the streets.

[DGP1]

The amount of hazards and who can identify more is not really the issue now, is it?

If you are not capable of identifying things which are hazardous to you then you really have got problems. Nobody is expecting every possible scenario just the basics. Royal Mail expect an average of ten hazards per duty, if you cannot find sufficient animalss, low letterboxes, tripping hazards and slippery or uneven paths then I'd suggest you're not fit to go out onto the streets.

Only 10 I had 4 A4 sheets filled in and was only a 1/3 the way through the delivery, of course, the sheet disappeared from the top of my frame so they must have decided that it was enough

Of course, it does help that I've had a bit of H&S training and am able to identify risks

[Almighty1]

The amount of hazards and who can identify more is not really the issue now, is it?

If you are not capable of identifying things which are hazardous to you then you really have got problems. Nobody is expecting every possible scenario just the basics. Royal Mail expect an average of ten hazards per duty, if you cannot find sufficient animalss, low letterboxes, tripping hazards and slippery or uneven paths then I'd suggest you're not fit to go out onto the streets.

How can you possibly put an average on an expected number of hazards to be identified and who cares what the royal mail expect from their substandard risk assessments? I believe most staff can observe a low letter box, steep hill, dangerous dog etc etc as thats is what RM has trained us to identify, what about what we are not trained to identify? I was delivering behind some shops last week and noticed a shallow build up of water where there was inadequate drainage, not much of a problem on it's own, but when you notice theres cat feces that could carry toxoplasmosis and signs of rat activity (weils disease) it becomes a different ball game, I also had to concentrate on a electric fork lift truck screaming around, broken bottles on stair wells, hanging live electrical cables, vehicles movement with no dedicated pedestrian walkway or barriers and I suppose to deliver the mail safely to these addresses? Do you not think given the severity of this high hazard environment It deserves a manager or safety rep to come out and make a few observations and remedial recommendations, or would filling out a WPQ from the office be a better idea seeing as the direction of a hill or amount of flights of stairs you have on your walk are significantly more important

[Lounge Lizard]

What's a WPQ form ?
I've never seen one.

[Almighty1]

What's a WPQ form ?
I've never seen one.

It's just another piece of paper work management use to comply with certain safety regulations, it's nothing of benefit to us posties !

[Himaggen]

What's a WPQ form ?
I've never seen one.

It's just another piece of paper work management use to comply with certain safety regulations, it's nothing of benefit to us posties !

Absolute rubbish, if you identify a hazard and Royal Mail action it in order to comply with certain safety regulations that serves as a direct benefit to you and any other person following you.

Additionally if you are able to identify hazards and the actions warrant extra time/care in order to remain safe then those should be fed back into pegasus and your outdoor timings altered accordingly. Health and safety only has a negative benefit to those who don't embrace or entertain the concept.

[Almighty1]

What's a WPQ form ?
I've never seen one.

It's just another piece of paper work management use to comply with certain safety regulations, it's nothing of benefit to us posties !

Absolute rubbish, if you identify a hazard and Royal Mail action it in order to comply with certain safety regulations that serves as a direct benefit to you and any other person following you.

Additionally if you are able to identify hazards and the actions warrant extra time/care in order to remain safe then those should be fed back into pegasus and your outdoor timings altered accordingly. Health and safety only has a negative benefit to those who don't embrace or entertain the concept.

"IF" you are able to identify, and as i clearly stated before i'm not just talking about what the WPQ lists, which brings us right back to my original point of can a OPG identify all significant hazards and risks associated with his or her walk or does it require a trained safety rep to come out and identify them? ....You live in a dream world if you believe offices enter such hazards on Pegasus to enable OPG's more time to complete the hazardous areas of our delivery

RM does not fully embrace Health and Safety, we went into our revision over 18Months ago with no Risk assessments in place, no health surveillance, and now we still only 14 out of 47 walk risk assessments entered on the wrap, our manual handling refresher courses are out of date by at least 2 years. So yes your right, I can see how the RM are taking our Health and safety very seriously

[Lounge Lizard]

What's a WPQ form ?
I've never seen one.

It's just another piece of paper work management use to comply with certain safety regulations, it's nothing of benefit to us posties !

Absolute rubbish, if you identify a hazard and Royal Mail action it in order to comply with certain safety regulations that serves as a direct benefit to you and any other person following you.

Additionally if you are able to identify hazards and the actions warrant extra time/care in order to remain safe then those should be fed back into pegasus and your outdoor timings altered accordingly. Health and safety only has a negative benefit to those who don't embrace or entertain the concept.[/quote

"IF" you are able to identify, and as i clearly stated before i'm not just talking about what the WPQ lists, which brings us right back to my original point of can a OPG identify all significant hazards and risks associated with his or her walk or does it require a trained safety rep to come out and identify them? ....You live in a dream world if you believe offices enter such hazards on Pegasus to enable OPG's more time to complete the hazardous areas of our delivery

RM does not fully embrace Health and Safety, we went into our revision over 18Months ago with no Risk assessments in place, no health surveillance, and now we still only 14 out of 47 walk risk assessments entered on the wrap, our manual handling refresher courses are out of date by at least 2 years. So yes your right, I can see how the RM are taking our Health and safety very seriously

Thanks. I may be very good at sorting and delivering mail but useless at identifying hazards before an accident happens. And not only did I not know what a WPQ form is but I've never seen a Royal Mail risk assessment or health surveillance. That the mail gets delivered is all that really matters though isn't it ?

[brothermagrew]

http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... rm#p111931" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TrueBlueTerrier]

What's a WPQ form ?
I've never seen one.

There are 3

WPQ1 - is for a walking duty
WPQ2 - is for an OMV duty
WPQ3 - is the master list.

thats if I have remembered them correctly.

[Himaggen]

and I suppose to deliver the mail safely to these addresses? Do you not think given the severity of this high hazard environment It deserves a manager or safety rep to come out and make a few observations and remedial recommendations

Once you've identified a hazard to the best of your ability then you don't deliver mail if you feel that your safety is compromised whilst awaiting a resolution. That is when your Manager/Safety Team Member/Safety Representative contact those responsible and action that hazard report. It's ridiculous to expect them to go out on every walk identifying all of your hazards for you but expected that they will investigate those issues you raise.

The broken bottles on stairs are a basic tripping/slipping hazard which you've been trained to identify as are the hanging cables, (unless they are unsheathed/bare). The drainage problem also fits into the same basic identification category, dont walk through the water in unsuitable footwear, (and dont drink it or swim/splash in it). The only real issues you've raised beyond that are sites with vehicle movement and those sites have a legal obligation to ensure that they have measures in place to ensure that you are safe whilst on their premises. Other than the requirement that you are wearing hi-viz clothing this can usually be dealt with by letter/visit from your Manager in the same way as they deal with dogs/slippery paths etc..