Health and safety mythbusters: online shopping

From shop floor to front door: this is the promise many supermarkets make with their online delivery services. But what would happen if your door was up a flight of stairs?

One shopper found out when their regular supermarket online delivery driver informed them that they could no longer carry shopping up the steps. The reason? Health and safety.

The shopper acknowledged that people must assert caution at work, but was taken aback when the driver stated that the new rule also helped them do more deliveries.

Health and safety mythbusters

The Health and Safety Executive’s myth panel was quickly on the case. As it turns out, there are no health and safety reasons as to why bags cannot be delivered upstairs.

The supermarket chain clarified to the HSE that the change in service is at trial stage in a limited number of locations and had not been prompted by health and safety.

The safety mythbusters concluded that the driver should have therefore made clear to the customer that a trial process was underway and, rather than use health and safety as an excuse, have asked them for feedback on the trial.

I think we all know what their feedback would have been, though.

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