Health & Safety

[Yin Yang]

That is the standard procedure elsewhere to, I am not saying it correct or I agree but it does happen elsewhere.

[Tegai]

Your supposed to have fire wardens who check areas in store to make sure the store is clear

[gomezz]

Which seems like the more sensible option when you have an unknown number of members of the public on site.  The register approach is no use for them.

[loser38]

so,we dont need a register?

[Yin Yang]

Yes, it just doesn't need to be cross checked in a drill.

[Yin Yang]

The drill and real event is using Fire wardens to sweep the building on exit checking for personnel as they go.
Obviously in a real event all areas may not be accessible to the Fire wardens to check hence the need for a list of known people on site.
In a drill that list should still be available to maintain the familiarity of its requirement in the Emergency.

[loser38]

okies,thank you for clearing that up

[happyone]

i didn't know there was any health and safety in stores as in r store the yard lights have been out for nearly 9 weeks and nothing been done about it even tho a member of the night team fell over in the yard at night as the gate wasn't opening and we had to open it by hand

[tumshie]

was that reported as an accident at work, in the accident book?

our back yard lights were not working for months. every time i needed to go in the yard, i wrote in the safe & legal book that the lights weren't working.

you could try doing that and make sure to record, in the accident book, any accidents that happen.

you should have a poster somewhere in your store telling you who your safety reps are.

[eric79]

Hi I've recently been appointed a h&s rep in my store haven't had my training course yet.in general if we spot something we consider a hazard do we have to find some sort of proof for example in a training manual etc or is it more a common sense approach?
In our main freezer we have some stock stored on pallets, just wondered if other stores also do this or if people agree it is unsafe?

[tumshie]

for several months we stored all our frozen bread & rolls on white plastic plinths in the freezer. we were told that was "the tesco way".
then they decided it would be better to have them on cages so we've been doing that for quite a while now.

[Nomad]

Nothing should be stacked in such a way that an accidental knock/nudge could dislodge item(s) and injure person(s) in the vicinity.

[highlanderjim]

Express store here with at least a 50ft of uneven pavement to pull cages to shop over.

Whats the policy for pulling in said cages, can we as normal CAs refuse? as we are not trained etc..

Also the 2 siders (WHY ARE THEY STILL IN USE) they are dangerous, often stacked to the brim with extremly heavy bottles (Im a weekend weight-lifter and I struggled with the uneven surfaces/dodgy wheels/overloaded cages. Can we simply refuse to take them?

Thanks for any info

[Nomad]

You can refuse to do anything that you truly believe endangers yourself or another person, but it always helps to have a witness and/or someone of a similar mind.

[lord archibald]

Express store here with at least a 50ft of uneven pavement to pull cages to shop over.

Whats the policy for pulling in said cages, can we as normal CAs refuse? as we are not trained etc..

Also the 2 siders (WHY ARE THEY STILL IN USE) they are dangerous, often stacked to the brim with extremly heavy bottles (Im a weekend weight-lifter and I struggled with the uneven surfaces/dodgy wheels/overloaded cages. Can we simply refuse to take them?

Thanks for any info

If the cages are too dangerous to pull over the pavement, you are within yours rights to refuse to move dangerous cages. You are NOT refusing to work, but are refusing to work in a dangerous situation. The company and yourself have a legal obligation to ensure you are working safely. The company has a legal obligation to carry out a risk assessment to ensure the surface is safe to use, and to put in place anything that is required to remove or reduce as far as possible any risks it finds during that risk assessment. If that means making sure uneven surfaces are replaced, then so be it. Take photos of the uneven surface, and get your store health and safety rep to complete a report form (HS2), and hand it to the person in your store responsible for H&S issues.

If you can, you should take pics of any poorly loaded cages as they come off the truck. Also take note of the labels on the cage, as the distribution centre should be able to trace who loaded the cages in such a poor way. If you can, let your local store SD forum rep take these to the next group store forum meeting and have it investigated.

[poppy1]

could someone answer a question on capping shelves.  i hurt my back start of december was off work three and a half weeks still on light duties as a result.  am in the union and asked rep about heavy items being on the capping shelves as my back was hurt lifting down a very heavy item.  he put a print out on the usdaw board which said the shelves should not excede 50kg and it also said only extra stores should be using them.  when i said to rep our store isnt an extra store he said but all the stores are like that, and hasnt answered my question about the weight of individual items.  what is the policy.

[poppy1]

when we go into work alot of the isles have everything spotted on the ground even if they wont go out.  i think the thinking is quicker to pack as not enough staff. but as far as i was aware we are supposed to work off cages to a blue top.  this is sore on the back especially over time.  cant get a straight  answer from any one even rep.  what is the policy.

[artimis]

Capping shelves where available are used, 1 item high, 50kg max per mod, 50cm maximum height (this should be on the capping shelf on a stripping insert. You should have cappng shelf airport ladders to use to get things down from these shelves as are only allowed to left things to shoulder height. The maximum weight of an item to lift to shoulder height should not exceed 10kg for men and 8kg for women (going from memory on weights so may be slightly wrong). I am just makig a point that there is a union agreed limit and a way of handling these weights.

Repetitively pushing your body to lift/push/pull heavy weights in inadviseable ways (above head/at end of outstreatched arms/back bent/etc.) will weaken muscles not strengthen them and eventually you will get problems. I see it time and time again.
Look after yourself, refuse to do things that you don't have to do without the correct equipment and get union backup if managers try to force you to do something beyond what I have said here.

At the end of the day your body you are stuck with for the rest of your life, you have to deal with its injuries and damages for the rest of your days and this is just a job for a short period of your hopefully long life. Most injuries to back are not sudden, they are a slow wearing down process.

[poppy1]

thank you as reguards to the capping shelves is there anywhere i can get all this information to take to my union rep.  he should be sorting this out but is doing nothing sometimes i think what am i paying money to the union for ?  thank you again ?

[Loki]

Take the info to your Union Rep?

They should have the damn info!

There's an entire module on capping shelves!

[loser38]

poppy,i had issues with the capping shelves,lifting items that are stacked two and three high,weighed 20 kilos,loose trays of tins etc,thanks to my own stupidity i am now left with a permanant injury as well as a bad back (although i put the bad back down to many many years of bending and lifting)...refuse to work them if you feel they are unsafe,items should NOT be stacked any more than 1 item high,nor should there be loose stock and cases should not be packed on their side either...as for the airport ladders,you should be trained on how to use them properly....

and why do the union never back us up on these things or at the very least,keep us informed on the rules and regs...i would be as well paying my fees directly to Loki as they seem to be the only rep that knows anything!

[Loki]

At least you acknowledge me as a Rep. I've been accused by others of being a manager, Tory and some have even stated that I have another alias - happyreturns!

[happyreturns]

"Some have  even stated that I have another alias- happyreturns!"

In their dreams Loki, strangely nobody has said I have another alias- Loki.

[poppy1]

loser38  was told by union rep dont need training for airport ladders and loki he said he went through the partnership agreement and does not mention capping shelves at all.  hes also health and safety rep so hes gonna find out what he can for tonight but ill not hold my breath.   

[terrybigballs]

In our store (night shift) we could not use the capping shelves until we had done, and signed for our training, which included using the airport ladders