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Tem drivers face cab ban
Page 12
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A row has broken out over a new health and safety policy at Tesco's
RDCs. Jennifer Ball reports.
DRIVERS ARE furious about a new safety policy at Tesco's Regional Distribution Centres that means they can no longer stay in their cabs while they are being unloaded.
This follows an accident at one of its RDCs.
The drivers say the regulation is disrupting their rest periods as they often end up queuing for hours and there are limited facilities at the RD Cs. There are also questions about whether the time away from their work station would count as a period of availability under the WTD regs.
One London-based driver says the accident has been taken out of context: "There are thousands of deliveries every year but we are being punished because of one accident. Tesco's justification for this new rule is 'health and safety' but they have obviously not considered the welfare of the poor visiting drivers.
am happy to drop the trailer while it is being unloaded but refuse to be banished from my cab for an undetermined length of time."
Another driver agrees:"The cab is not only a truck driver's work station but his second home, providing a controlled environment where they can have rest.
am an ardent supporter of anything that improves safety but am increasingly irritated by the perception that risk can be eliminated. Risk is part and parcel of daily life. Surely health and safety is about 'managing' risk rather than eliminating it?"
A Tesco spokeswoman says that following an investigation into the accident it felt that asking drivers to lock and vacate their vehicles was the best course of action: "There are rest areas for drivers at all our distribution centres; we hope that drivers will recognise how important ensuring the safety of our staff and the drivers is to us and the importance of having safeguarding measures in place.