Postmen are ‘fit only for snail mail’

[Geezer]

From The Sunday Times
October 25, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 888892.ece

The majority of postmen fail to meet the government’s exercise guidelines, managing a sluggish average speed of 2mph on their delivery rounds.

A study has revealed that 85% of postal workers do not do the recommended 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week, even when activity outside work is taken into account.

Researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University issued 78 delivery and office-based postal workers with motion sensors for a week. A pace of 109 steps per minute was the minimum for “moderate intensity”, equivalent to just over 3mph. Only six of the active workers (15%) and two of the office-based workers (5%) met the target.

According to the study, published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, the average time spent walking at a moderate intensity was 28 minutes per day for delivery workers and 16 minutes per day for the office workers, including activity outside working hours.

British postal workers lag far behind their international counterparts, with those in Singapore averaging 3.9mph, and those in Copenhagen close behind. Earlier this year, postmen claimed management asked them to walk at 4mph, which they felt was excessive.

Tom Lucas, a sports psychologist, said the study dispelled the myth that postmen are fit.

“They convince themselves that, because they are out walking for long periods, they are doing enough, but it won’t do them any good if their heart rate is not elevated,” he said.

Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire who has done an international study of walking speeds, said the average Briton walked at 3.5mph.

“I would have thought postmen would be walking faster but you have to take into account the fact they are carrying something heavy,” he said.

The findings will be a further blow to postal workers in a dispute with Royal Mail over pay, conditions and modernisation.

Jim McKechnie, of the Communication Workers Union, which represents postal workers, said members carried overloaded bags and were suffering from stress, making it “impossible to walk at a fast pace”.

A Royal Mail spokesman said its staff’s health and wellbeing were “extremely important”.

[mailman337]

................ What a load of old SH*TE!!!!!!!!

Well if that's true...................., and to be honest, I cant believe any postman worth their salt would agree to participate in such a wheezy experiment ....(barring strike breakers and doms ).......... , :

.......................then I can play guitar better than Eric Clapton!!!!!!!!



:cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo :mfo :mfo :mfo :mfo

[Geezer]

A Royal Mail spokesman said its staff’s health and wellbeing were “extremely important”.

So that's why RM want us to walk at 4mph, Because that way we would get fit and healthy and in the long run it would be better for our health.

[Post Off]

Yeah, I read this article earlier in the day, and wondered if they would be able to work any faster if they didn't sit on they're fat behinds all day.

...Though thinking about it now, it looks like these journalists are now so bereft of anything constructive in which to offer the public that they are now dismantling the idea of even having a postal service in the public's psyche even before the inevitable.

I'd like to see the likes of these tossers push a 105 kg trolley at 4mph, without having a nasty accident. And on a personal note, instead of keeping me fit, it has in fact totally fooked me, health wise, so much so that I may be out of a job very soon and be walking the streets, er, so to speak.

[mailman337]

[quote="Geezer"]
A Royal Mail spokesman said its staff’s health and wellbeing were “extremely important”.

That's a joke...... when you consider the "Attendance proceedure",............. stage interviews for cancer, heart problems, arthritis, depression, anxiety, need I go on ??????? :mfo :cfo

[stokes11eg]

Ha Ha so having tested a scant 75 people, thet decide 85% of us do not do enough excercise!?
Get Real.

[Lincox]

Did they stand up for 3 hours doing sorting, unloading vans, carrying mail boxes before they even set off on their deliveries. What type of world are we living in when we have these sort of investigations taking place that have no relevance to the job we do. These science bods want to get a life.

[genesis]

Lets break this down,the outdoor postie would have to walk faster than 4mph,simply because he or she would stop lose time for crossing road ,notice left, pda, giving directions(optional)taking a leak(not optional)slippery drive , intensity of walk that is more calls more possible delays .I wonder if they used a heart rate moniter because in my experience you have periods of speed, fast walking ,variations of pace to standstills .Its total rubbish most outdoor postmen are fitter than joe average.In fact some are having to much exercise and are to tired for anything thing else. It looks like they have not researched it thoroughly.

[ExSG]

Perhaps a real test of whether walking for the post is good exercise is how much weight you lost when you started in the job.

I though I was pretty fit when I started - I used to go up and down some stairs all the time in my old job - but lost a whole stone in the first six weeks

I do wonder though, how can you measure speed when every few moments a postman actually stops walking to make the delivery, presumably in order to make up the time he should run in between drops Did they expect the postman to run up stairs and make up the time by running down?

Such crap. I would be interested in just what the Singapore guys actually carry. Some postmen in the Med area have very small pouches because the weather is frequantly hot and they have to walk fairl distances between drops which also means they are stopping less . . . . . . . many don't use bikes to cover these places - I wonder why?

Sad that Timesonline after a good start and having truthful and relevant articles need to use this sort of nonsense.

[opgpat]

Another flawed experiment utilising a scientific-method totally devoid of intelligent reasoning from self-deluding academics posing as the clever people in society.

This study is probablly created by 'sports psychologists' and means anyone reading it should realise the authors are probablly thick as 2 short planks. I've met many sports uni students and they were all, without exception, not clever enough to do a proper course.

By their standards a worlds strongest man competitor is getting no exercise when he is lifting beer barrels onto the back of a flat-bed truck! And bench-pressing 50KG all day will also give you no exercise? If we don't get enough exercise why is my shirt totally soaked in sweat at the end of the duty?! Why am I gasping for air at the top of every stairwell? Why do I need to eat regularly while on delivery?

These fairly-land bods at Caledonian 'University' (which used to be a college and is out-classed in every way by the real University in Glasgow, Glasgow University) clearly don't understand the basic requirements of delivery work i.e. stopping/slowing for gates and doors. If they think this simpletons experiment tell anything about exertion they are more stupid than the average postman on here - and WE aren't funded with tax-payers money to be clever and add to society!

Stupid headline-grabbing studies like this are created and published for one reason, to increase the profile of the University and to obtain more and more funding for overpaid research scientists. It's not about 'science' in it's purest sense (to develop understanding), it's about money.

http://www.gcal.ac.uk/research/research ... nstitutes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Research Institutes

Institute for Health and Wellbeing

The Institutes will bring together the research excellence of individuals and groups across the university to consolidate our success in attracting major grants, further develop collaborations with partners outside Scotland, and work with end-users in the public and private sectors.
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[Acca Dacca]

Being from Glasgow, I stopped reading at 'Caledonian University'.

[stephen500]

Arr another research study...Everytime I see one of them, I think to myself..
"Who has commissioned the survey and what was the motive behind it"
You will probally find that this has been commissioned by RM in order to justify Pegasus!
Its like most sleep surveys are comissioned by mattress companies!

[opgpat]

Being from Glasgow, I stopped reading at 'Caledonian University'.

lol, it was a s**t-hole when it was the Tech, only good for the snake-bite at the Students Union.

[not me]

Lets break this down,the outdoor postie would have to walk faster than 4mph,simply because he or she would stop lose time for crossing road ,notice left, pda, giving directions(optional)taking a leak(not optional)slippery drive , intensity of walk that is more calls more possible delays .I wonder if they used a heart rate moniter because in my experience you have periods of speed, fast walking ,variations of pace to standstills .Its total rubbish most outdoor postmen are fitter than joe average.In fact some are having to much exercise and are to tired for anything thing else. It looks like they have not researched it thoroughly.

plus we are assuming a flat delivery
lets see them do 4mph up and down stairs all day

[barbario]

What an utter complete load of bollocks this report is.How many bankers excerise more than 30 minutes a day.