Upstairs Delivery

Thought this might be of interest concerning our Cypriot colleagues taken from today’s Cyprus Mail newspaper.

THE DELIVERY of electrical appliances weighing more than 25 kilos to first floor apartments and above now demands a forklift, according to new EU regulations.

Back in January, all electrical goods stores received a circular from the Labour Ministry – titled ‘2007 Campaign for the Protection of Delivery workers’ – informing them of a new European campaign regarding the dangers that manual delivery of appliances pose to workers’ health – especially their spine.

“This campaign was decided due to the large number of injuries and spinal ailments suffered during the hand-delivery of heavy cargoes,” the head of the Labour Department, Leandros Nicolaides, said in the letter.

The ministry specifically stated that no one should carry up stairs any equipment heavier than 25kg, preferably 20kg.

“The prevention of spinal ailments and injuries from the manual removal of goods is the employer’s obligation, not just legal but also moral,” said Nicolaides. “The employer should first check whether the manual transportation of goods can be avoided with the use of other mechanical methods of lifting, such as forklifts,” he added.

Yiannakis Georgiou, warehouse supervisor at Electroline, confirmed that workers were no longer allowed to lift more than 25 kilos when delivering goods to first-floor apartments or above.

“It is for the protection of the workers. Anything heavier than 25 kilos demands a forklift,” said Georgiou.

Maria Antoniou recently had a fridge delivered to her first-floor apartment but was told by the delivery men that they could not take it upstairs.

She believes it’s fair enough that workers should not be made to lift heavy goods, but she hadn’t been informed beforehand and was unprepared for what to do.

“In the end I had to ask my neighbours to come and take it upstairs for me,” Antoniou said yesterday.

So consumers should bear in mind that it costs an extra charge of £25 to hire a forklift, which the consumer must pay.

Phil