Rank: New forum user 
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Employer has installed new personal lockers for some important personal issue equipment which is safety critical and needed for role. It requires to be charged up overnight via a socket at the back of the locker. The lockers go down to floor level and the lockers on the bottom require you to get onto all fours to access the locker and place the equipment on charge.
I have raised this with the health and safety manager who states they are not chnaging the lockers and that it is the same as opening the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet, they see no risk or any short to medium term health issues in this. I have asked them to demonstrate as they state this can be achived by bending down alone.
Has anybody got legislation, case law or experience to help me with this?
Thanks
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Rank: Super forum user 
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You are obviously not happy with a recent imposition which sounds as though managment conclusion was reached without consultation - do you have a works commitee or union who should look in to this?
Your post is unclear about:
- what the equipment is especially from a weight / bulk perspective - how the charging lead attaches - if its is a fixed or removable battery - if it is a single locker with the charging area at the bottom or a series of stacked lockers meaning only those on the bottom layer have the problem IMHO your safety manager is being dismissive with their comment about a filing cabinet drawer - you dont rumage at the back of a drawer for a charging cable nor do you regulary lift and replace anything with significant mass from a filing cabinet. Has this manager arrange manual handling training for site? What advice did that give regarding "bending"? You may find something useful information on the HSE website https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/manual-handling/good-handling-technique.htm
https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l23.htm
https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/manual-handling/index.htm
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 2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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You are obviously not happy with a recent imposition which sounds as though managment conclusion was reached without consultation - do you have a works commitee or union who should look in to this?
Your post is unclear about:
- what the equipment is especially from a weight / bulk perspective - how the charging lead attaches - if its is a fixed or removable battery - if it is a single locker with the charging area at the bottom or a series of stacked lockers meaning only those on the bottom layer have the problem IMHO your safety manager is being dismissive with their comment about a filing cabinet drawer - you dont rumage at the back of a drawer for a charging cable nor do you regulary lift and replace anything with significant mass from a filing cabinet. Has this manager arrange manual handling training for site? What advice did that give regarding "bending"? You may find something useful information on the HSE website https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/manual-handling/good-handling-technique.htm
https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l23.htm
https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/manual-handling/index.htm
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Originally Posted by: Roundtuit  You are obviously not happy with a recent imposition which sounds as though managment conclusion was reached without consultation - do you have a works commitee or union who should look in to this?
Your post is unclear about:
- what the equipment is especially from a weight / bulk perspective - how the charging lead attaches - if its is a fixed or removable battery - if it is a single locker with the charging area at the bottom or a series of stacked lockers meaning only those on the bottom layer have the problem IMHO your safety manager is being dismissive with their comment about a filing cabinet drawer - you dont rumage at the back of a drawer for a charging cable nor do you regulary lift and replace anything with significant mass from a filing cabinet. Has this manager arrange manual handling training for site? What advice did that give regarding "bending"? You may find something useful information on the HSE website https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/manual-handling/good-handling-technique.htm
https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l23.htm
https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/manual-handling/index.htm
Thanks for the links. The object has no real weight and is not very big, it has a fixed battery. The advice was unable to bend or have a problem then they ned to see occupational health then ask for reasonable adjustments.........basically a long way to get a better positioned locker and demote a colleague to floor level !
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Rank: Super forum user
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The post above this one is from someone worrying about electric vehicles in his college(I assume) car park and the risks they might pose above and beyond petrol driven(which are, of course, Intrinsically safe!) vehicles. This post is about someone complaining ( rightly IMHO) about the manual handling issues connected to low level storage lockers. But then he mentions that that there are charging points inside the lockers. Surely that is a fire risk. Is the equipment safe to leave on the charger? What happens if the batteries catch fire in the locker. Will the fire detection system pick that there is a fire inside a locker? Is the locker fire resistant, from the inside? What is there to stop people using the charger to charge up other things when they are out, which might not safe? Or storing flammable items like spare clothing etc in the locker? Any competent H&S bod should be asking these sorts of questions and expecting convincing answers from the scheme's backers. As to the original point, can you put what ever is in the locker on a small trolley or a retractable shelf; so you can pull the thing out and do a simple, twist free, vertical lift? Edited by user 12 September 2024 13:10:00(UTC)
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2 users thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi Gary I'm with both Roundtuit and AK on this one. There is also the question of how someone would maintain the chargers at the back of the lowest lockers to (a) ensure that they remain in safe condition (b) can achieve this without putting themselves at unnecessary levels of risk. So, as AK suggests you could put whatever needs to be charged on a trolley or similar which the user can easily pull out of the locker. But the person maintaining the charger would still have to get on their knees or even lie down to reach inside the locker to the back to maintain the equipment UNLESS entire lockers can be retracted. Is the "Health and Safety Manager" the person who makes the decisions or should you be talking to a line manager?
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Rank: New forum user
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Originally Posted by: peter gotch Hi Gary I'm with both Roundtuit and AK on this one. There is also the question of how someone would maintain the chargers at the back of the lowest lockers to (a) ensure that they remain in safe condition (b) can achieve this without putting themselves at unnecessary levels of risk. So, as AK suggests you could put whatever needs to be charged on a trolley or similar which the user can easily pull out of the locker. But the person maintaining the charger would still have to get on their knees or even lie down to reach inside the locker to the back to maintain the equipment UNLESS entire lockers can be retracted. Is the "Health and Safety Manager" the person who makes the decisions or should you be talking to a line manager? It is personal issue equipment, they carry no weight really, 300-400grams. They are locked away as personal issue and need charging as they have a fixed battery. The only issue is the bottom locker which will require anybody accesseing to get onto their hands and knees on a hard floor, it is in a fixed position.
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