Handle with care

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THE traditional sight of a postman on his push-bike will be a thing of the past, after Royal Mail brought in new health and safety procedures that will replace push-bikes with hand-pushed trolleys.

But the trolleys that are replacing more traditional delivery methods have already come under fire from the postmen's union representative.

Under health and safety legislation postmen are only allowed to carry a maximum of 16kg of mail at a time, but the increase in demand for internet shopping means the majority of post weighs considerably more than traditional letters and bills.

For the past few months the service has been trying a new system on the streets of north Bristol, which has now come into permanent effect in three of the city's sorting offices.

Postmen across the whole of Bristol will be expected to adopt the new procedures by the end of the year.

For rounds within a mile of a district sorting office, postmen will conduct them using a "high capacity trolley" – a four-wheeled trolley, capable of holding up to 75kg of post.

Posties push the new trolleys on their rounds, and leave them on the kerbside between deliveries. They are fitted with bike locks, and the lid can be locked too.

Postmen with rounds more than a mile from a sorting office will travel in pairs in a van with a postman on a neighbouring round, where they will use lightweight trollies to carry their bags along the streets.

But the system has not been wholly welcomed by staff. John Pym, 42, who has been a Bristol postman for 26 years, said he had concerns for the security of mail left in the street during deliveries with "only a flimsy lock on the trolley".

Mr Pym, the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) representative at the Northern Delivery Office in Montpelier, also criticised the trolleys' manoeuvrability and controls.

"They are very difficult to push up a hill, and the brakes don't work very well," he said. "We often end up having to park them and carry post bags along the street as normal. It's all very well bringing in trollies for the sake of our upper backs, but it is at the expense of our lower backs."

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BY the time I arrive at the Royal Mail's Northern Delivery Centre, yawning as the sun rises over the Montpelier sorting office, the postmen dashing around their various mail-sorting stations have already been up for hours.

John Pym, 42, who has been a postman in Bristol for 26 years, left his bed at 2.30am to be in work for 3.30am.

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"That was overtime," John says with a smile. "I've just got married so I take the overtime when it's offered. But overtime here means coming in three hours early, rather than staying late – to get ahead with sorting the mail before going on my rounds."

After the mail is delivered from the regional sorting office at Filton, it's the job of the postmen themselves to sort their own mail bundles into the right order for their rounds.

This district sorting office alone deals with an average of 300,000 items of mail each week. There are 29,515 delivery points looked after by the office – 1,345 firms and 28,170 residential addresses.

With just 83 staff at the office, four of them dedicated to firms' deliveries, it means postmen deliver to between 400-600 homes each day on average.

These days some of the sorting is mechanised, with computer "walk-sorting" software planning the most efficient route around the postman's rounds, but much of the sorting is still done by hand.

"I still prefer to sort as much as possible by hand," John says. "You can't beat the local knowledge that comes from having done the job for decades. The computer software is about as reliable as conventional car sat-navs – it's been known to send me walking through brick walls to get from one house to another.

"But clearly that's the way the sorting is increasingly going. Hopefully the software glitches will be eventually be fixed."

But it's not just the sorting part of the process that is evolving.

At around 9am John heads out on his rounds – but whereas once he would have been jumping on to his push-bike, new health and safety procedures mean John now has to take a "high capacity trolley" – a hand-pushed cart.

"It reflects the shift in the way the public use the Royal Mail," he explains. "While once it was all letters and bills – light things, these days much of our delivery is parcels, such is the rise of internet shopping.

"You certainly notice when there is a sale with one of the big online retailers – this week for example, we are carrying 80 per cent more parcels than last week, and that's because a few of the big online shops have summer sales on."

Under health and safety legislation postmen are only allowed to carry a maximum of 16kg of mail at a time, but under the new procedures being trialled in north Bristol, which are set to be rolled out across the whole of the city by the end of the year, postmen will not be allowed to carry any post bags.

For postal rounds within a mile of a district sorting office, postmen will conduct their rounds using the new "high capacity trolleys" – four-wheeled trolleys, capable of holding up to 75kg of post.

Posties push the new trolleys on their rounds, and leave them on the kerbside between deliveries – locking them to lamp posts with bicycle chains.

Postmen with rounds more than a mile from a sorting office will travel in pairs in a van with a postman on a neighbouring round, where they will use lightweight trolleys to carry their bags along the streets.

Previous health and safety innovations brought in by Royal Mail have been gratefully received by staff – such as the so-called "post-peg", a plastic grip that saves postmen's fingers when delivering to properties known to be home to a snappy dog.

But John, who delivers to properties around Cotham Road, is not wholly welcoming of the latest changes.

As the union representative for the sorting office with the Communication Workers' Union (CWU), he says he has some concerns about the trolleys' manoeuvrability.

"They are very difficult to push up a hill, and the brakes don't work very well," he says. "We often end up having to park them up and carry post bags along the street as normal.

"It's all very well bringing in these trolleys for the sake of our upper backs, but unfortunately it is at the expense of our lower backs. In London the Royal Mail is introducing trolleys with small motors for the hills, but here in Bristol, where we have a lot of steep hills, the trolleys are manually pushed. It is harder work than carrying a bag of mail on your shoulder.

"Although the trolleys technically have a 75kg capacity, nobody ever weighs them before leaving the sorting office, so they probably often weigh considerably more."

John's round is on such a steep hill, Royal Mail makes a concession for him and his trolley is given a lift to the start of his rounds in a Royal Mail van.

"I start at the top of the hill and work my way down," he says. "It's the only way I could do it with one of these trolleys.

"We have also had some issues with brakes not working on the trolleys – which is a serious concern for those of us pushing them.

"I don't want to sound like I'm moaning about everything," he adds. "I know these are changing times for the industry, and Royal Mail is trying to change the way we work to meet those new demands, but there are certainly a few teething problems that need ironing-out."

John says the biggest problems could be caused by the postmen themselves.

"I'm afraid there is still a culture among postmen that they want to get their rounds done as quickly as possible, and then head home as soon as they can. But these trolleys inevitably slow them down.

"So my concern is that they won't follow the proper security procedures about securing the trolley to a lamp post outside each house, and ensuring the lid of the trolley is locked – even when they are properly locked up, they're not the most secure things – it is only a flimsy lock on the lid.

"I'm encouraging my fellow postmen to not cut any corners with security when using the new trolleys."

Royal Mail spokesperson Heulyn Gwyn Davies said: "We are making a number of changes to our delivery methods as part of the modernisation of our entire operations. This is one of the biggest transformations being undertaken in UK industry. The modernisation programme is essential in enabling us to respond to a changing mailbag as we deliver fewer letters but more packets and parcels for our customers.

"As a result, we have been progressively introducing new equipment including trolleys and vans. This move, which has been supported by the Union, is helping reduce the risk of injury to postmen and women from carrying heavier mailbags involving our staff. As these trolleys are crucial in enabling us to deliver mail, we aim to resolve any issue identified with these trolleys as soon as possible.

"There is no security issue with the use of these trolleys. These issues are considered before such equipment is deployed and staff are also given strict guidelines on addressing any security concerns. The safety and security of mail is of the utmost importance to us."

[POSTMAN]

Trying to get my head round this,at times it's funny as f**k.