Posted By D H Why do they need to wear body armour all the time? It should only be worn if the risk assessment demands it. Sounds like a procedure required as to where and when? Dave

Posted By sjj666 Thanks guys for your prompt replies. In answer to your queries. The Chief constable(CC) has stated that when carrying out firearms duties body armour must be worn. This is all well and good when your are a home office firearms officer as they only don the body armour prior to containing an incident. My problem is that our force is the nations nuclear anti-terrorist deterrent. Our CC has stated that he cant dictate when and where an attack may occur and therefore requests that officers wear body armour at all times in order to fulfill his Health and Safety liabilities. My fear is that there do not appear to be comparable studies which detail the effects of officers wearing body armour for such long periods while seated in a vehicle. We have already had one officer take his case to the courts (that the force had no risk assessment in place) and he was successful and has received compensation. There is now a generic risk assessment in place. This requires an officer to carry out a dynamic risk assessment of the circumstances and inform their line manager of reasons they have for not wearing the armour. My concern is that many other officers are covering up their symptoms as they fear for their jobs. I am trying to create a good argument to limit and manage the number of hours a shift that my officers need to wear body armour. Hence managing the risk of future back damage. Thanks again sjj666

Posted By Lwood The MoD did contract the defence company QinetiQ ( I used to work for them but no longer have any connection)to do ergonomic studies into body armour. You should be able to get access to this study and probably for free (MoD/Gov has paid for it once, no need to buy it twice). L

Posted By johnwaterson2773 I used to wear BA for long periods of time in a car working in hostile environments and to be honest we just put up with it. We used to try and adapt the BA to the seat sometimes it worked then on others it wouldn't. It is hit and miss. They could get an old set and experiement by cutting the back section so that it sits above their belt kit which takes the pressure off of the back and kidneys. It goes to show how people are jumping on the H&S bandwagon really, at the end of the day it is something they need to give them additional protection, and if they never had it they would complain. It isn't as bad as another story I heard, the lift is out of use, and the H&S advisor said to the building manager when will it be working again as I have a bad back from carrying my bags up the stairs. The stairs in question no more than 25. Make the bags lighter then.

Posted By sjj666 Thanks once more for the replies. John, I to spent time in the forces (Army 8 years) and admittedly I also just put up with it. Yet in that 8 years I was never expected to wear the BA for 8 hours every day, even while deployed in Iraq, Bosnia or Kosovo. I think our situation is unique in that we have officers, who are just 25, complaining of back problems who have 35 years left in the job! I must admit the BA gives me aches from time to time, a situation which I never experienced in the Army. I believe that the problem is being compounded by the poor driving position and extra weight being carried by our officers without any real guidance. There is no question that if the alert state was raised, due to intelligence, then the officers would not question the requirement to wear the BA. I have several possible solutions including regular breaks and regulating the times that body armour must be worn. I also intend to generate an anonymous questionaire for firearms officers to establish the true extent of the back problems. Once I have collated this evidence I will be able to present a powerful case to my superiors in order to encourage them to provide exact guidance on what is expected. I was hoping that there may be studies that were relevant to help me build my case. I know that without such studies, I may well be banging my head off a brick wall. Thanks again sjj666