I work for a large Distribution company. We have a number of warehouse across the UK, with a multitude of FLT's etc. I am aware of the ACOP from the HSE on the use of Safety cages (non integrated working platforms) We follow the guidance for everything apart from the one day a year for stocktake when due to business needs we utilise safety cages for stock counting. I have been happy with our risk assessment covering this - training, fall arrest, maintenance, checks on saftey cages etc. However I am now a little jittery should something go wrong and the HSE/LA refer to the phrase occasional / routine or planned tasks. I am after views on others views as to whther a once a year task would be deemed to be occasional or indeed a routine planned task. havingt o move to cherry pickers etc. would be extremely expensive and not really practicable for our stock taking operation. I am aware of the BFFF guidance on the use of cages in freezers but really need clarification on ambient conditions.n

That is our other option but the extra time this takes provides extreme difficult for our 24/7 operation in our larger warehouses

Agree totally with MB1, This is how we conduct ours with a day rate of approx £200 delivered i think this is reasonable alternative.

We too used FLT reach trucks with attached cages to carry out our stock take until we had a suprise visit during a stock take from the HSE who informed us that as we were carrying out "planned" work we should find another method. We now have a man-up truck and only use the cages for emergency access.

Just to echo what others have said, I too work for a large retailer. In years gone by safety cages were used for inventory, however since I joined and identified the practice and the guidance on their use (it even references stock taking as a planned activity), this has now stopped. We hire in MEWPs when required (we've recently purchased 1 for each warehouse now). On a technical note we came to the conclusion that something that was known to happen in advance is planned, regardless of whether it occurs once a week, once a month or once a year. Therefore the decision was easy for us. I think you would struggle to justify that it was not reasonably practicable to hire in a MEWP (presumably the only argument you could run is the financial cost being disproportionate to the safety gain), as I doubt this would financially cripple the company (as well as all the other factors relating to reasonable practicableness that could be satisfied).