Newsagents tell me that the Sunday Telegraph published by News Limited this past Sunday weighed 920 grams. This is an unsafe weight to deliver using traditional delivery means.
As I blogged on November 20, 2006, the Nery report, commissioned by the ANF, found unsafe work practices which stem from the handling of heavy newspapers. According to the report, current work practices are unsafe. The report documents unsafe work practices which stem, in part, from having to handle heavy newspapers. Any newspaper above .6 kilogram in weight is considered to be heavy. Consider this quote from the Executive Summary the report:
The Results section of this report (page 10) has outlined significant ergonomic risk factors associated with the newspaper delivery tasks. These risk factors are particularly related to dimensions of the weekend papers (Advertiser and Sunday Mail) when combined with the repetition, volume and manual handling aspects of the delivery process. In particular, there are significant risks associated with the delivery/throwing of the larger dimensioned and heavier Saturday Advertiser and Sunday Mail newspapers.
David Nery, the respected author of the Nery report was clear:
The current situation, in my view, is unsafe and modifications to the weight, dimensions and volume of papers distributed per person need to be reduced to provide a safe system of work.
Late last year, News Limited issued a rebuttal to newsagents, based on their own expert study. Their report, or what has been published to newsagents at least, is years late and lacking in detail and professional scope compared with that of David Nery. The News Limited rebuttal is in the from of a letter telling newsagents that they are responsible for OH&S issues relating to newspaper delivery. They claim that Nery is wrong and that it is safe to deliver heavy newspapers.
News Limited controls the weight and dimensions of the product being delivered. They also control most of the economic terms relating to newspaper home delivery: delivery fees, cover price and requirements about obligations on newsagents to accept customers. These economic terms determining whether newsagents can reasonably split a heavy product into two.Newsagents need to revisit the Nery Report in the context of the fat Sunday Telegraph. If I still had a home delivery business and were in a position to influence industry response I would:
- Re-engage David Nery for a response.
- Talk with Worksafe and other state government OH&S bodies for an opinion.
- Talk with insurance companies to determine liability on the insured should an injury claim be made relating to this issue.
- Assemble a team of experts to research and guide a whole of industry response. The team would include an appropriately skilled lawyer, OH&S expert, medical expert, a newspaper deliverer and a newsagent.
- Discuss with the federal government funding opportunities to help newsagents pay for the necessary research and advice in navigating such a complex issue.
- Set a timeline for progress on this.
- Seek agreement from News Limited to engage nationally given that they are dealing with it internally nationally.
It may be that the process results in a negotiated middle ground position between News and newsagents. If it doing nothing wrong, News should have nothing to hide and therefore be prepared to actively engage.
I think delivery drivers that whinge about the weight of papers need to have some cement and toughen up a little bit !! sooks !!!
I know of a newsagent that popped his shoulder delivering weekend papers but still has to struggle through because he has no other drivers.
He does not qualify for compo either because stupid him owns his business and is not simply an employee. No help from the publishers either, they still expect him to keep throwing.
Luke, as Steve Jobs would say ,”you are not holding it right”
Not me Murray, I gave up being a slave to fairfax/news yrs ago. I get my 8 1/2 hrs sleep a night now as well as Sundays/public holidays off. Good luck to those that still do it but it aint for this duck.
Luke,
Please share your experience giving up being a slave to newspaper publishers. Yours and others’ experience and advices will benefit other slaves currently still under bondage to Fairfax and News. Please consider, lives and family homes may be saved.
Hi Mark
This weekend we had 4 newspapers that weighted in at over a kilo and I would rate that as light. The UK’s big titles are the Sunday Times, News International and the Daily Telegraph with the Mail on Sunday breaching the kilo mark less often. These papers have been a challenge since the early 1990’s and in the UK we have basically two choices, to deliver or not to deliver as the risk is all ours. The publishers just wash their hands of their product as soon as it hits the wholesaler.
We still deliver and have had to adjust our working practices to meet this gross challenge. Many UK retailers have said enough and walked away, but I guess our contract is somewhat different from the Australian model.
My personal conclusion to this weighty issue was that the Health and Safety of my staff and myself was paramount after all this is required by law and the publisher’s wishes were secondary. Contracts surely can not require anyone to act illegally even when they are written by newspaper publishers.
Steve
Routinely, weekend (particularly Saturday) papers are well over 1kg.
As pointed out to us, in writing, by a certain circ manager, we ourselves are responsible for OHS.
That would simply mean we could decline to throw them, for safety reasons.
Then again, their counter-study was presented on their legal firm’s livery, so we would have to go to court to back ourselves up.
Even those of us who have kept spreadsheets on the weights of weekend papers, only do so in order to protect ourselves. Then again, should someone be doing some fieldwork on this issue, we have data that may be helpful 😀
It’s easy Ebo, simply hand back the runs and work off subagent rates for newspapers.
We still have direct supply for mags, and have a good relationship with our distribution newsagent but we only take the papers we can sell retail, no accounts.
For losing 12.5% I get to set my own working hours around those that will make me money, no more sitting around for hours waiting for late supply.
Sure some will say that you are losing goodwill in the business but it is my view that in a short period publishers will take back the delivery areas and newsagents will lose the goodwill anyway.
Hope this helps