bag weight advice

[el_cartero]

great way to get a day off tho

just phone in and say u have a sore back

[silverback]

great way to get a day off tho

just phone in and say u have a sore back

It is a fact that Royal Mail, as a company have far greater work absence due to musculoskeletal injuries (bad back one of the most common) than any other
companies. When you are young and fit you think you can carry these bag weights mentioned without problems but as years pass it takes its toll on the body
without you realising it. We should all carry weights well within our capabilities and should not use the bag weight matrix as "target weights" as someone has already mentioned. If there is one thing in the agreement that is good, it is the joint aim to get weight off our shoulders, by whatever means. Thats presuming the agreement gets passed and that RM stick to the aims of the agreement. After all, its not in RM`s interest to have employees with long term musculoskeletal injuries. The sooner the dim Doms realise this and aid its employees the better for all.

[jaja]

It is a fact that Royal Mail, as a company have far greater work absence due to musculoskeletal injuries (bad back one of the most common) than any other
companies.

Do you know why this is?? it's because if your off you get full pay, if you work in the construction industry where you could get more musculoskeletal injuries (bad back one of the most common) than in ANY other industry, you rarely find people absent from work .......WHY?

because people in the construction industry they get naff all if they don't work

[silverback]

It is a fact that Royal Mail, as a company have far greater work absence due to musculoskeletal injuries (bad back one of the most common) than any other
companies.

Do you know why this is?? it's because if your off you get full pay, if you work in the construction industry where you could get more musculoskeletal injuries (bad back one of the most common) than in ANY other industry, you rarely find people absent from work .......WHY?

because people in the construction industry they get naff all if they don't work

Yes, I dont dispute what you state but while ever RM pay employees while on sick abscence it is in their best interest to try and reduce this abscence as much as possible.
I.E. Dont force people to carry weights they are not comfortable with, have staff that are not under undue stress, aim to have a motivated workforce with high morale etc.
Unfortunatley RM managers dont seem to grasp this principal and in actual fact do the exact opposite

[wolfie citizen smith]

hi the bag weights go on a sliding scale 1st bag no more than 16k 2nd bag no more then 16k 3rd bag no mre than 12k 4th bag no more than 10k 5th bag no more than 10k 6th bag no more than 8k or if you are walking up slopes greater than 1 in 12 no mre than 8k or if slopes are greater than 1 in 8 no more than 5k or your walk is mostly stairs ie flats no more than 5k bags just google cwu weight on delivery hope this helps

if i was you I'd get your area Health and Safety rep in to explain sharpish to your manager/s what the correct bag weights are, as your unit is not abiding by the agreed standards

[DGP1]

Ask your DOM for something to take the weight, a bike, a golf trolly or a HCT. That way you don't have to carry the weight around for the entire time.

[Jasmine]

Ask your DOM for something to take the weight, a bike, a golf trolly or a HCT. That way you don't have to carry the weight around for the entire time.

Thank you that would be ideal but we don't really have any of those at our office, only a few HCT's and most of walks are too far from office to use them. I am hoping when the new agreement finally gets sorted, there will be an alternative. Like I said my own postman uses a golf trolley and it looks much better than the way I do it.

I'd not thought of asking the H&S rep, so will have a chat with him about what I could do. I rarely see the union rep as am part time and he leaves the office early, so its not easy to get to talk to him. My line manager is usually okay when I ask him about things, I just get the impression there isn't an alternative for me. I do usually break the bags down more and then dead walk back and end up claiming overtime if its taken me over. I might have a chat with them about that though as although they do pay the overtime, I wonder if they know the reasons why I end up going over. Also some of the walks use shops and the post office as bag drops which really puts pressure on me as have to pick those bags up before they close which for many of the shops and 2 days a week, is half twelve. Really ever since georoute the bag drops for most of our walks just don't work anymore, not big enough or frequent enough. I guess if the new agreement gets sorted things like that "should" get sorted out.

[postghost]

Am I correct in saying that the MAXIMUM weight for a bag going up stairs is 5kg??

Does the total weight include the bundle you are carrying??

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Am I correct in saying that the MAXIMUM weight for a bag going up stairs is 5kg??

Does the total weight include the bundle you are carrying??

AFAIK its 5kg limit when its predominately stairs.

Not sure if it includes the bundle your carrying as the bags should be preplanned to match the rules.

If you are only going up 1 or 2 flights in a bag (or perhaps even more) then the 5kg limit wont apply. I think it only applies when you are continually climbing stairs.

[meercat]

The 5kg will include the bundle you carry if it is in your pouch when you leave the bag drop!

Jasmine what you need to do is take this seriously because you could well be doing irreversabler damage as one young guy did in our office. The solution is simple. Take bag weights you are comfortable with and feel safe with. If that means you put out 12 bags that is what you do. Then work as long as you wish or until you get tired then go home. If you only end up doing 6bags a day or 8bags then that isn't your problem it's your managers. You might be told other people do it in time but tell them you are an individual, you are working to what you believe are safe standards for your body and the weight matrix is MAX weights not target weights. The problem is lack of bag drops so make them put more in don't do yourself an injury because they are cutting corners with drops.