Posted By warderic Does anyone know of a product for transporting 4 or 5 cups of tea etc upstairs safely whilst still having one hand free to hold the handrail? This is a serious question. Following an accident I have banned employees from taking trays of tea upstairs, instead they can only carry one cup at a time. Consequently this has caused the usual complaints and it would be good to know if there is such a product on the market. Many thanks

Posted By Philip Roche A teapot

Posted By Marvin Owen Glad that is all you have to worry about, why do health and safety consultants worry about these little things. Get a tray or make the tea upstairs. Very poor question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted By warderic Very poor answer Mervin. A possible fall downstairs and a glass in someones face is a worthwhile risk reduction question. By the way I'm not a consultant, I work in a high risk environment, but I'm professional enough not to forget low risk offices.

Posted By Ian Futcher Plumb in a tap and a sink upstairs; can't be that expensive? Ian

Posted By Scotty What the OP is asking is if anyone knows of a product to safely carry cups? Seems reasonable to me or have we started judging what can and what can't be asked? Nice to see someone identifying risks in a low-risk area, warderic. What about these vacuum flasks that have handles and hold about 3 to 5 litres of hot water? Upstairs you could have paper cups (no transporting or washing up) and all the other tea and coffee stuff ready to go? Good luck and sorry I don;t know of any cup-carrying implements.

Posted By Raymond Rapp Ouch! I don't like criticizing people for posting obvious or trivial matters...but must agree with some of postings.

Posted By J.Morrison http://www.cooking-gadge...-balancing-serving-tray/

Posted By GeoffB4 A perfectly valid question, stick with it. It reminds me of the days of being a NEBOSH examiner. Candidates would do all they to could to distract themselves and provide anything but a reasonable answer to a reasonable question.

Posted By Bill01 Use the lift - dont have one then isn't that DDA issue then.....?

Posted By warderic Bill01, no we don't have a lift and its not a DDA problem. Thanks for your comment anyway.

Posted By Adam Worth I didn't read the whole thread but - I worked in a high hazard environment, and we had a policy for carrying tea upstairs!! The rule was you could only use the lift and mulitple cups had to be wheeled on a trolley, I agree if that's not an option make it upstairs or use a tea caddy like you get a these seminar things... We also had a hold the hand rail policy! hmmm I hear the critics ask, shouldn't a safety advisor on a COMAH site have something better to be doing?? YES - but when I slipped on stairs in a car park I was mighty please to find myself holding a handrail and was glad i didn't have 5 cups of tea to juggle! Risk assess - implement controls - job done,

Posted By Jay Joshi We consider any activity that prevents the use of handrails when climbing stairs as potentially risky, as the consequences of a fall can be severe, despite having the correct surface etc. Add to this a cocktail of hot beverages in uncovered cups in a tray thay requires to be held by both hands, and distraction --usually gossiping etc and it cab become higher risk! We use the trays as shown in the link by Ian_P We have not "banned" using trays, but anyone doing so is likely to be subjected to a behaviour based "at risk" observation!

Posted By Juan Carlos Arias totally agree that people should be able to post their questions without having the KNOW IT ALL friend criticising on the quality of the question, some of whom, I must say are normally very helpful towards others. let's no forget that no everybody here are necessarily H&S professionals (of course not saying that warderic is not). warderic, I think the link someone else sent with a self balancing tray is quite a good idea depending of the number of people up stairs and amount of daily trips they would make. good luck!

Posted By warderic I would like to thank everyone for their input, particularly those who gave a constructive answer. I have been in this profession for over 20 years and I would be the first to admit that I don't know all the answers. The fact is, when an accident occurs, such as a young lady falling down stairs with a tray of tea, I need to react in a positive way. I carried out a post risk assessment and concluded that carrying a tray with both hands was the main contributor to this incident. I immediately banned this activity, allowing only persons to carry one cup of tea. I know that having a cuppa is a great British tradition and I didn't want to put in place an unnecessary rule of banning tea upstairs in the offices where employees often make tea for each other. I looked at putting facilities on the first floor, but getting a water supply proved very difficult. OK so far. So why not have a kettle or flask, filled on the bottom floor each morning and taken upstairs to be used throughout the day. Problem, the cups would need to be taken downstairs to be washed. Effectively they would undoubtedly be carried down on a tray, back to square one. Thinking about it,I wondered if there was a device for carrying cups leaving one hand free to hold the banister rail. Now this whole process took a couple of minutes and a few lines on a risk assessment form. Why did I bother? If I didn't and it happened again, this time with serious injuries, I would not only live with my conscience but would probably find myself answering questions in a court of law, civil or criminal. Now to me, looking at reducing this risk is not a waste of time and asking a question of my fellow professionals is not a waste of their time. The simple answer is, if readers of this thread new of a device or had an idea, then comment, If they didn't then don't comment. Again I thank all those positive responses.

Posted By SNS Hi Warderic, Do you have a friendly woodworker in the local area who could make a single handed tray? In a previous employment we had travel mugs - narrow base and wider body to fit in car cup-holders. Travel cups also have clip on lids to prevent spillage. The tray holes were marginally bigger than the cup base, swing handle for balance. I wish that I had taken out a patent on it! In another employment we used to use the conference jugs but found that those carrying them were getting hot liquids on their legs too often, and they were spending too much production time away collecting and recovering them. Good luck in your quest.

Posted By Alan Haynes I did a google in ‘single handed tray’ and found these;- http://www.gizmodo.com.a...elfbalancing_tray_k.html and http://www.amazon.co.uk/...9&ref=pd_sl_7bp2iypskw_b both of which would allow a hand free for holding on to the handrail on the stairs – and there must be others out there as well

Posted By Amandac Waderic Dupont did a huge study on such 'safety risks' to my recollection. Vending machine providers such as Klix or Flavia used to do a tray which resembles the frame for snooker which holds a number of cups. Hope you find one.

Posted By John J What amazes me is Warderic being criticised because this question is below the level of risk that some contributers think worthy. Once you have control of your major issues surely you should be focussing on the next level. One of our painters once gave me an interesting indicator of our safety culture. He painted the handrails on plant and said he knew people where taking more care as people where wearing the paint off the rails quicker because they were now using them more. You'll know your on a winner when you put as much effort into investigating near misses as you do accidents. John

Posted By Ian Futcher allied to the topic - For a number of years here, the most severe RIDDOR we had was not in the manufacturing area with all the machinery and dangerous activities. It was a woman walking down the stairs in the Office Block - missed her footing and grabbed hold of the banister too late; as she fell her weight (and she was slim) pulled her shoulder out of the socket. She was off work for 3 months. Low risk activity, yet high severity outcome. Low risk ativities should not be ignored. IMHO. Ian