Date: 28th September 2021
To: All Mandate Members Boots Henry St
From: Eoin Griffin, Industrial Officer
Re: Health, Safety and Welfare concerns regarding delivery scheduling and
under-staffing
Dear Member
Please see click here https://tinyurl.com/BootsHS28921 for copy of correspondence received from Ms Shalida McGarry Boots Store Manager on the 27th of September in response to our letter of the 01st September (see below) with regards to the health and safety concerns relating to delivery scheduling and under-staffing, the contents of which are self-explanatory.
Should you have any queries with regards to this matter please do not hesitate to contact me or my secretary Rebecca on 018870728 or rosullivan@mandate.ie.
Yours fraternally
Eoin Griffin
Dear Ms. McGarry
The undersigned has been contacted by members in your store regarding the aforementioned. To ascertain sufficient evidence Mandate conducted a survey within the store, to ensure that this was as broad and truthful as possible it was open to all staff and responses were fully private and confidential. What follows is a brief overview of the findings:
| Question | Yes | No |
| 1. Do you feel you have received adequate training from your employer with regard to Health & Safety? | 90% | 10% |
| 2. Do you feel the expectations on staff in Boots Henry St. are fair? | 20% | 80% |
| 3. Please set out in your own words how the current issue with deliveries and short staffing has impacted you |
| “It’s put me under a lot of stress, we’re all trying to cover so many different jobs at once, staffs hours are getting changed the night before on a daily basis cause we don’t have cover for certain hours of the day so people are getting moved around, nobody is in the job role they should be in because there cover other sections of the store due to lack of staff, which is effecting there performance in there actually job role.. everyone is exhausted” |
| “Staff being pulled from all areas of the shop to get huge deliveries out which is then impacting on work through out the day and putting pressure on people to get the rest of the their stuff done in small amounts of time. Dolly bases being put in any available space in back shop or on the shop floor are making it very hard and uncomfortable for staff and customers alike to get around the shop safely… Staff feeling hugely under pressure and stressed trying to get everything done in time it’s expected to be done. |
| “The situation with the delivery is definitely not safe anymore the staff are stressed extremely tired carrying it up and down flights of stairs with no lift the trays that are sent in are way too heavy too carry down we are getting way too much sent in that our back shop is to small and we have nowhere too put it so it’s blocking fire exits.” |
| “The lack off staff has the staff pushed too breaking point customers are verbally abusing the staff about how long they have too wait in queues too be served staff are getting shouted at and some staff are been brought too tears over it now” |
| “Delivery can be big as in alot delivered over 3 days were as it use to be over 6 days but we are not busy enough so its good to keep us busy” |
| “There isn’t enough staff to do stock duties and their floor duties. Then It carries on to the next day for a different person when they have their own duties to do. There should be a lift for stock cause sometimes there can be 12+ boxes of excess and it all has to be carried down and then later in the day you might have to carry 5 or 6 more heavy boxes up to fill the shop. And there is rats down there now” |
| “The delivery team is 2 people that was 4 originally a good few year ago. Staff have not being replaced since. We are the only store that do no have lift and are required to carry down every piece of stock down 2 flights of narrow stairs. We are not given enough time or help and back pain is constant. The deliveries have also gotten bigger as we have gone from a 6 day delivery to 3 day delivery which means some days there are double the amount which results in the back emergency exits being blocked and also the shop floor not being safe for customers as there are dollies still on the floor.” |
From the reports it would appear clear that the delivery situation in Henry Street requires immediate re-evaluation with a comprehensive risk assessment conducted as a matter of urgency to ensure that staff are not being expected to engage in work practices that could place themselves, their colleagues or customers at risk of injury in the workplace?
Furthermore it is notable that short staffing is a considerable concern and it would appear that the non-replacement of staff is having a detrimental impact on our members.
Can you please set out the company’s plan to elevate the potential dangers our members are facing and what remedial actions are being taken by return?
I trust you will treat this correspondence with the importance its contents demand.
Yours sincerely,
Eoin Griffin
Industrial Officer