Posted By Steven John Nelson Many offices & other workplaces have water coolers which dispense water from a water bottle. I beleive the water bottles weigh approx. 17KG, and are changed/replaced when empty. Bottles (other than that one being used by the dispenser) are normally stored upon floor or racks nearby. Do the MHO Regs 92, and the duty to avoid AFARP any hazardous handling operations, mean that we should - where possible- dispense water using coolers that deliver "tap-water" ?

Posted By Jim Walker Steven, Thats the answer I'm looking for too - see my posting of a few weeks ago (no responses!). I'm trying to get these banned at my place of work. This follows a request to give over 20 people manual handling training (only a couple of years after the coolers were installed !). Ian, Would be interested in your data and how you brought about the change. I've obtained a leaflet from the "Bottled Water Cooler Association" called "Manual handling regulations 1992". The content is a bit of a joke as the whole subject is covered in six sentences. The weight of the normal bottles is either 22Kg or 19Kg, but I understand you can get 12 Kg ones. According to the BWCA most people will be OK lifting the 19Kg bottle but might need to be fit and need training to lift the 22Kg one. So that's alright then!

Posted By Nick House I went along this route last year, and finally managed to get rid of the bottled water machines, in favour of the filtered mains water variety. I found that thinking laterally and playing the 'reduced long term cost' card far outweighed any H&S arguments that I had. although we are a very proactive company with regard to H&S, you can't fail to impress when you can contribute to savings on the bottom line!! The provider that I use also provide various flavoured cordials (with dispensing optics) that I now use. This went down a storm with the users, and also with management - because the money that I had saved by swapping machines, more than covered the cost of the cordials. Therefore, the end result was increased morale (perception that the company is willing to go the extra mile with flavoured water(!), but management are happy, as they are still saving money! Hope this helps. Regards Nick.

Posted By Renny Thomson TechSP We've commenced a programme of replacing the bottled water coolers with mains supplied. The advantages are reduced costs and reduced back injuries. A further benefit is the tidier workplace without the spare botttles cluttering up and obstucting fire escape routes.