Predominantly upstairs deliverys

[Danelectro]

* PREDOMINANTLY UPSTAIRS * this safe system of work rule about reducing bag weights to 5kg has been around since
1996 when delivery spans were 2 hours 45 mins. Even if agreed that predominantly was 80% upstairs then that would be 2 hours of delivering back in 1996.This 2 hours of delivering must surely apply to any delivery span longer than 2 hours 45 mins and not
increase in relationship to a longer span.In a nutshell any span that has more than 2 hours of delivering upstairs should be reducing bag weights to 5kg........ How is everybody using this SSOW rule? because it seems that as the spans have got longer
the length of time delivering upstairs before the 5kg bag applies has also inceased....well thats how Royal Mail and some Reps seem to be looking at.

[clashcityrocker]

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.

You wouldn't have to have 80% of the walk more than 1:12 to reduce the weight of the bag on slopes, so why should you have to have 80% of the walk as stairs to reduce the weight of the bag?

[Danelectro]

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.

You wouldn't have to have 80% of the walk more than 1:12 to reduce the weight of the bag on slopes, so why should you have to have 80% of the walk as stairs to reduce the weight of the bag?

Im using the 80% because thats what an area manager said was predominantly in an attempt to define predominantly.So im sure you can imagine the scenario....whats your definition of a delivery predominantly upstairs Clash and how does it relate to previous delivery spans as I tried to point out?

[clashcityrocker]

The Tenement Study, the delivery span restrictions and the pouch weight matrix are constantly being watered down and undermined because they don't fit in with RM's "vision"
for delivery.
Park and Loop in its purest form targets the driving duties but you can't do away with the driving duty if you are only carrying 5kg at a time.
It is also true that a 3hr 30 delivery span doesn't sustain a full time job, or only in the context of a 30/70 f/t p/t split. I can see why the CWU would "collude" in a relaxation of the recommendations of RM's own ergonomists.
There is no doubt that climbing a flight of stairs with a bag is much harder work than delivering on the flat.
One day someone will die climbing a flight of stairs and then there will be a lot of hand wringing and talk about how the job should be done.
In the meantime we will see the triumph of cost-cutting over H&S.
As one line manager grunted: "If you can't carry 16kg up a close you shouldn't be in the job"

[Danelectro]

Clash as far as my office revision is concerned,theres been some considerable
watering down of the H&S in the dutys ive looked at.The 3.30 restricted span has gone on the stairs dutys but I was still trying
to hold them to 5 kg bags especially when its a span well over 4 hours.

But not looking like im going to get anywhere- though
theres has been some attempt to make the bags lighter when looping from a HCT or from the Bipa but most of the bags are going to be nearer 10 kg judging by what ive seen so far.

If this collusion with Royal Mail and CWU is how its gonna be then why dont they just write up a new SSOW and amend the
agreement(is thats whats going on now?)because until then the H&S still exists.

So as it stands my office revision is no 1 in 4 Saturdays off, no share money,and longer spans with weight on shoulder.also some dutys where pushing HCT to and from office takes 50 mins then its bags on back and looping from the HCT for 4 hours........Is that the best im likely to get? ...

[clashcityrocker]

I suppose it depends on whether your office votes for it or not.
It would appear that the study in Dundee did focus on 2 ups (at least that is what is in the picture) yet these have been discounted from the revisions because unless it is an old style Victorian tenement with 21 steps between floors, it is now classed as a complex and devoid of any H&S considerations.

"The main building type judged to pose a risk of fatigue to delivery people is the "old style tenement" where these appear in concentrated numbers on any route. The report's recommendations therefore focus on this building type, BUT ALSO APPLY TO MORE MODERN BLOCKS WITH A SIMILAR DESIGN, with no lift or ground floor posting box.

"...the overriding principle is to account for significant and sustained stair climbing with little opportunity for recovery"

If I had written the report I would be upset/angry to see the way it has been distorted and abused by people with no qualifications in the relevant subjects and whose only motivation is cost-cutting.
You don't measure work in time, you measure it in calories. Measure the calorific value of a front door walk and then assess what delivery span in flats amounts to the same calorific value. The walks would then be "energy equivalent" and thus fair.