Long Term Fatigue Study : Final Report & Recommendations

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Letter to Branches





No. 041/16
Ref: 600
Date: 25th January 2016


To: Branches with POSTAL Members


Dear Colleague

Long Term Fatigue Study – Final Report & Recommendations

Further to LTB 293/13 Branches and CWU Representatives will be aware of the Long Term fatigue Study that has been jointly carried out over the last 3 years in a number of delivery offices. The report has now been concluded and is attached to this LTB. The report contained recommendations which have now been discussed with Royal Mail and the way forward/actions are listed below.

Recommendation:
Further investigation of the national increase in absence due to musculoskeletal disorders should be carried out and this is already included in the health & safety wellbeing plan for 2015/16.

Action:
This clearly requires further work and for continuity should involve Corrine Parsons and Mick Gledhill.

Recommendation:
Breaks should be taken during the duty and not scheduled at the end. Individuals should be encouraged to take their due breaks and drink during their duty and to allow this the availability of toilet facilities on routes should be reviewed and arrangements made where there are problems.

Action:
This is the responsibility of the Delivery Director and the Outdoor Secretary. The Delivery Programme Group (DPG) will have the responsibility to come up with a strategy to deploy this. It will also form part of the talks on the future of delivery.

Recommendation:
More visibility of the variations between planned and actual outdoor times should be obtained and the reason for this investigated to ensure that workload and lapsing/absorption arrangements result in fair and achievable workloads for individuals.








Action:
This will become the responsibility of the Integrated Delivery Programme to identify and agree a process for dealing with this

Recommendation:
If further extension of outdoor spans is proposed a break with access to toilet facilities on the route will be essential during the outdoor work. It appears that access to shelter as refuge from inclement weather and a place to take a break is beneficial to enhance well-being; the provision of (shared) vans has increased access to such shelter. Assessment of the physical workload for potential future duties will be necessary during design and early deployment of the individual methods and duty structures, with adaptations to methods/equipment as appropriate to enable longer spans for our people.

Action:
This will form part of the talks on the future of delivery.

Recommendation:
A study is recommended to review the most effective way to plan shared van routes and deliver large parcels. It should look at how many parking stops people make when using light pouches versus the planned loop stops with the use of trolleys to understand any differences in efficiency and other benefits/issues of the ways of working.

Action:
This is outside of the remit of the Fatigue Study but does need further discussion. This will fall under the remit of the DPG and will also be factored into the future of delivery talks.


Finally the department would like to place on record its thanks to Corrine Parsons Royal Mail and Mick Gledhill CWU ASR for their involvement in this study and their invaluable input into the final report.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 600
Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Bob Gibson
CWU Assistant Secretary

[General Mannerheim]

So a fudged effort as normal then.

[hampshireman]

Sorry TBT.... Is that it? I cant open the doc link.

If that (as you have posted) is it , then it is pathetic.

Is there a link to full doc .

Many thanks

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Should work now - I detached the PDF file and posted it instead.

[halfull]

in a nut shell the size of the current jobs is totally wrecking hard working posties bodies!! People are falling apart! knees, hips,backs, feet, ankles,exhaustion and the list goes on!
The difference in health issues compared to 4 years ago is scary! Its like a different job!

[Chelseablue]

Halful were All in agreement there about the injuries and terrible wear and tear on delivery staffs bodies ever since this way of working came in . Thèy choose not to see this though.

[Lounge Lizard]

So a fudged effort as normal then.

Yes, fifty pages but no prospect whatsoever of anything changing for the better in the next few years.

[rambo1]

So, as long as we take our break and drink water 10-15miles walking a day should be a breeze. What utter waste of time rubbish.

[DB1100]

So, as long as we take our break and drink water 10-15miles walking a day should be a breeze. What utter waste of time rubbish.

For how long,a week,month or for years,all thru summer and winter.

[ziggy]

Are they really saying it's acceptable to take a break in the van? Seriously? What about when it's pouring with rain and we are soaked through? Do they really think we want to stop work and sit in the van soaking wet and freezing?

What happened to being able to take a break away from where you work. They do realise that posties often don't get a minutes peace if they sit in the van don't they? Customers appearing because they are desperate for their mail or for the parcels you have just tried to deliver that they couldn't be bothered to stay in for.

Then there's the curtain twitchers who phone the office and report the posties because they have stopped to eat a sandwich or use their phone (yes that does happen in our area)

Good grief

[slinder123]

read the report that is the final nail in the head for me as from today i am withdrawing from the union and i expect more will follow if they got sense why pay money to these muppets so that they can write dribble like this the rounds should be made smaller end off

[fishtank]

Embarrassing whitewash and unfortunate timing given the fact that the union will shortly be asking the membership to put on their fighting trousers once more, it would appear that longer spans have already been agreed despite the membership having no say at all in the matter.

[k979aaa]

I superpose royal mail will issue us all with camel backs and mandatory water proof trousers so we can drink while we piss in our pants and walk ourself's to death. The thought is repugnant at best and will see most leave the job in droves in the next few years.

[Deadly]

Then there's the curtain twitchers who phone the office and report the posties because they have stopped to eat a sandwich or use their phone (yes that does happen in our area)

Good grief

Yep, some busybody tried to report me for reading a newspaper in the van. What empty lives some people must have.

[k979aaa]

Then there's the curtain twitchers who phone the office and report the posties because they have stopped to eat a sandwich or use their phone (yes that does happen in our area)

Good grief

Yep, some busybody tried to report me for reading a newspaper in the van. What empty lives some people must have.

Probably the wrong newspaper in the wrong area.