Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Local authority circulars
To: Directors of Environmental Health/ Chief Environmental Health Officers of London, Metropolitan, District and Unitary Authorities and Chief Executives of County Councils.
For the attention of: Environmental Services\ Trading Standards \ Fire Authorities \ Other
This circular gives advice to local authority enforcement officers
The attached operational circular (OC 202/4) is equally relevant to both HSE/LA enforcement officers.
| Health and Safety Executive | Operational Circular | ||
| OC 202/4 |
| Review Date | 17/04/2012 | Open Government Status | Fully Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version No & Date | LA version 4/02 | Author Unit/Section | Engineering & Utilities Sector |
| This OC introduces HSE leaflet INDG348 requesting consignors to mark the weight of their parcels. |
1 It has proved difficult to improve manual handling within the parcel delivery industry as parcels are not normally marked with their weight. The weight of a parcel is often only appreciated once manual lifting has started.
2 For commercial reasons individual parcel carriers were reluctant to request their customers to mark on parcel weights. HSE therefore took the initiative and produced the leaflet entitled Mark a parcel, save a back (INDG348). Members of the Parcel Carriers Safety Forum, which represents about 80% of the industry, have agreed to distribute the leaflet to their customers.
3 The legal requirements relevant to marking of parcel weights are in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 s.3, and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 reg.4(1)(b)(iii). These are discussed in HSE booklet Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 Guidance on Regulations (L23) paras 176-179.
4 Consideration was given to only requiring parcels above a certain limit to have their weight marked. However this proved impractical as any parcel is capable of causing injury when other factors, such as position, frequency of lifting etc, are taken into account. As only a general indication of weight is required the leaflet requests the weight be to the nearest kilo in effect excluding small parcels below one kilo. To avoid unnecessary cost there is no need to acquire precision scales to obtain an accurate weight.
5 Inspectors should draw employers attention to the requirements detailed on the leaflet as at some time most employers are likely to use the services of a parcel carrier. The intention is to encourage the marking of parcel weights until it becomes normal practice for consignors.