Topic: White Van Man

[tim]

What, do you think, should be the limit in parcel weight that a van driver should be asked to deliver & carry 50 yards?

[Fork]

Depends on a few things,shape of the parcel,terrain etc.....they will have any excuse not to carry it.

I would reckon around 20,25 kilo

[hippydave]

ive just completed and a safe lifting course and they said the maximum for 1 man is 25kg (16kg for women) if it can lifted right into the body but this weight drops a lot if the object is held away from the body, but there is no legal maximum weight limit, but the size and shape has be taken into consideration when lifting.

[tonybloke]

My Sister drives for Drop Hide Lose it, she regularly arrives to collect a package from a regular customer, which is loaded onto her truck with a fork-lift! (she is expected to lift these items off of her vehicle) She now refuses to take anything that the person loading it cannot lift onto her truck, saying, ....you, big strong man, put item on my vehicle, Me, not so stong female, unload it! (two men couldn't lift the bloody item on to her vehicle!!)

as for the original question, I think it depends on the size and the weight, but 20kg should be the limit that folk are expected to carry.

see this document
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg143.pdf

[Mrs Gumboot]

20 - 25 kilos is about the limit of a one-man lift. Anything over that should really be done by two. What makes a difference is the size and shape. HSE always gives limits demonstrated with a regularly shaped box that you can hold against your body. Anyone who has tried to pick up anything strangely shaped will know it's a lot harder to lift the equivalent weight.

At the end of the day, I guess a delivery driver isn't too dissimilar to a gardener. You knacker your back lifting something too heavy or awkward then you're stuffed.

[tim]

Our poor TNT chap had to bring in our acrylic shower screen & window shutters - some 6' long by 4" thick, with a 24"x18" palette stuck on one end, as part of that length as a space filler.

Overall weight 37 kilos. I thought he would have a heart attack but I didn't see him until too late.

Across our village green. On a hot day. And then drive safely??

How best do I make a noise about this?

[BarriedaleNick]

I ordered my Dad a double electric powered ortho bed (he had health issues) and the thing turned up with one man (I paid extra for two!) and only my sister was at my dad's house.   I would say that was way over the limit for one man or woman as it took the guy over an hour to unload it even with my sister's help..

[Kepouros]

About 15 years ago I ordered a new bed.  I had one arm (broken) in plaster at the time, so paid in advance for it to be carried up the stairs and put together.  It turned up several hours later than promised, and the van driver just dumped it inside the front door and drove off.  I found out later that the mattress weighed over a cwt, and I had the devil`s own job dragging it up the stairs with one arm.

However, I`m sure that in the 1940s such things as coal, potatoes, cement, fertilizers etc all came in 1cwt sacks which we hoisted on to one shoulder and carried to wherever they had to go, and during my National Service Infantry training we had to pick up a 12stone man (complete with rifle and kit) and carry him for 100 yards in a fireman`s lift before we were considered ready to complete training.

  In the Falklands Campaign the Paras and the Marines "yomped" 25  miles or more at a time over the roughest terrain  carrying over 50lbs of equipment per man and then fought a hard battle when they arrived.

I buy my Birdseed and Nuts in  25 kilo (half cwt) sacks. Although not quite as old as tim, I`m well over 80, but I`m still quite happy to sling a sack on my shoulder and carry it to or from my car or wherever else it has to go.

`Elf and Safety` is just making as all into softies.

[Mrs Gumboot]

In fairness Tim, it's his responsibility to make a fuss at the depot when they load something far too big and heavy onto his van. Under health and safety law, if he had an accident it would more than likely be classed as his own fault for doing something he shouldn't have been. Loopy, I know and it depends on how gobby you are (i'm pretty good at standing up for meself, but it's not everyone's cup of tea).

You could try ringing through to the depot I suppose and ask what they're policy is regarding heavy or awkward items.

[Poppy Mole]

As I recall it corn sacks weighed two & a quarter hundredweight & were heaved around by one man, we are becoming a nation of wimps.

[1066]

How best do I make a noise about this?

I'd get in touch with the company 1st off and see what they have to say  :-\