Health & Safety At Work

[Dajstar]

I'll try a shortcut on here .

My job as a renal / dialysis delivery driver includes regular deliveries to patients homes of which on many occasions we are required to take the boxes upstairs.
These boxes weigh 11kg each and often there are in excess of 50-60 at a time.
So after 25-30 trips upstairs carrying 22kg i am ready to drop !!

Looking on the HSE website it's a minefield of information , is there anybody on here that could say if that kind of thing is acceptable or too excessive ??

Thanks in advance.

[woofgang]

are you saying that each delivery will consist of 50 to 60 boxes or that your day’s work consists of delivering 50 to 60 boxes?

[Dajstar]

That would be just one delivery , some days there could be 8-9 deliveries of which 4-5 could be like that , anywhere between 35-60 boxes and have to go upstairs. carrying 2 at a time.

[AlwaysConfused]

I'm more concerned with your payload. Incase I have this wrong, you have 60 boxes weighing 11kg for each drop, and you have up to 30 drops per day?

[AlwaysConfused]

sorry, crossed posts there Daj. Is your doorstep time calculated into your working day? Otherwise, couldn't you take one at a time?

[Dajstar]

Each box weighs 11kg , there could be up to 60 boxes to go upstairs on any one delivery , usually no more than 10 deliveries per day of which around half will be upstairs deliveries .
Doing just one of those is knackering , doing two or three in a row is shattering. There does not seem to be any precise figures on what is acceptable health and safety wise , seems to be more at the employers discretion .

[Dajstar]

Taking one box at a time means 60 trips upstairs instead of 30 , i wouldn't imagine that to be any easier to be honest.

[Dajstar]

Doorstep time not taken in to consideration , but our days are 12 hours long anyhow.

[bookbinder]

According to the Health & Safety website, there's no limit on how great a weight can be lifted:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/faq-manhand.htm

[AlwaysConfused]

11kg does not seem excessive to me, and carrying 2 boxes at one time would be seen as your choice (which is still not overly heavy to me) However, are all your deliveries put straight onto one van? It would be well over weight if so

[Dajstar]

11kg is not excessive on it's own , but bare in mind carrying upstairs so by the time you have done 20 odd trips (carrying two boxes- or 40 odd carrying one) that does take it's toll .

[Dajstar]

They are loaded onto a 26 tonner by the way.

[Zacs-Master]

Whips don't you ask to see your employers risk assessment?

[Zacs-Master]

Why

[Dajstar]

I'm going to see occupational health Thursday , just wondered if there were any written guidelines.

[AlwaysConfused]

Ah that's good. So long as you are not overweight, your doorstep time is not being timed and you are getting the job done within scale (based on just 11kg at a time) I don't see any real issue. Are you taking schedules breaks? If you find you have to skip breaks in order to make up time you must let your employer know

[Maydup]

Would a sack barrow help? You can get a stair climbing one like as this....

http://www.sacktrucksdirect.co.uk/stair-climber-trucks.html

Not a recommendation just a suggestion and there are numerous others on the market. I always find it useful to offer a solution when you talk to the employer. Do you have a tail lift on your van? could you have an assistant? Opportunitiy for an apprentice maybe?

[trt]

## My job as a renal / dialysis delivery driver includes regular deliveries to patients homes, in excess of 50-60 at a time.

I didn't realize so many people used these, amazing?

[Bathsheba]

Just interrupting to say hi to trt ;) Thank Dajstar

Baths
x x x

[Dajstar]

Thanks folks , always confused .... If you had to do this yourself you would understand what the issue is , i am reasonably fit and not one of our drivers are overweight but there are limits as to what you should be putting your body through , what would you consider to be too much regarding carrying upstairs ?? Personally i think that one person having to carry over 500 kilos of stuff up the stairs is too much when you have to do this 3-4 times in one day (also it is usually very warm in these homes as people are ill), our days are usually around 12 hours long anyway as we drive long distances around the UK doing this.

[Dajstar]

Maydup .... Thanks but there is no chance of getting two people on the job , twice as costly to the firm so that not happen , sack barrow no good as these boxes are too big for that and often people have stair lifts in the way too which makes it harder.