Keystone Hardware $($KH$)$

Keystone Hardware $($KH$)$ is a hardware store located in a retail park just outside a large town. It opened $10$ years ago. Areas that are only open to the workers include a large warehouse, offices, worker toilets and rest area, and two greenhouses. The public areas consist of a large sales floor, two large outdoor areas surrounded by perimeter fencing, a small caf$,$ and customer toilets. In these two outdoor areas, small, packaged supplies are displayed on shelves and stands under awnings. The outdoor areas are accessed via automatic doors at the rear of the store. There is a car park outside with a wide paved pathway leading to the store entrance; both areas are well$-$lit and well$-$maintained. On entering the store, to the left is the caf$$ area and customer toilets. There is an access road to the rear of the warehouse for deliveries and areas for customer collections to the front of both outdoor areas.

Departments and Products

KH has several departments selling a wide range of items:

Gardens and Landscaping: Large and small pots, garden ornaments, potted plants, plant foods, and pesticides.

Building Materials: $25$kg bags of cement, sand, gravel, wood, fixtures, and fittings.

Heating and Plumbing: Radiators, portable heaters, gas fires, fire surrounds, and boilers.

Workwear and Tools: Lawnmowers, cement mixers, small boxed hand tools, and a woodcutting service.

KH offers a woodcutting service where customers can have wood purchased in the store or brought from outside cut using a vertical panel saw $($VPS$).$

Operational Hours and Staffing

KH is open to the public $7$ days a week:

Monday $$ Saturday: $08$:$0020$:$00$

Sunday: $10$:$0016$:$00$

The store employs $80$ workers, including three managers:

The Store Manager $($SM$)$: Manages the entire store team and is newly hired from a competitor.

The Building Materials Manager: Oversees outdoor area $2,$ the warehouse, and the delivery area.

The Garden Manager: Manages outdoor area $1.$

Busy Weekends

KH experiences high customer traffic on weekends, especially during price reductions on radiators, gas fires, and fire surrounds. This has increased the demand for worker assistance in loading heavy items into customers$$ cars.

Warehouse and Delivery Area

The warehouse is well$-$organized, with strong racking and clearly marked pedestrian walkways. The delivery area, limited in size, is located between the access road and the warehouse. It operates two forklift trucks and ten pallet trucks. Delivery vehicles vary in size, from small vans to large trucks, the latter requiring forklifts for unloading.

Offices

The offices are accessible from the delivery area, access road, and outdoor area $1.$ Each manager has a desk in the office, which also houses the Human Resources and Accounts departments. The SM$,$ while eating lunch, read an article in Woodworking Monthly about wood dust exposure and carcinogens, raising concerns about similar risks at KH$.$

Outdoor Area $1$: Gardens and Landscaping

Outdoor area $1$ features gravelled pathways and paved areas guiding customers through plants, shrubs, and garden ornaments. Workers regularly water plants using hoses, as there is no automated watering system. This area has uneven paving near the greenhouses and some non$-$functional lighting. Workers prefer the greenhouses in cold weather but avoid them on sunny days due to heat.

Customers can use shopping baskets or flatbed trolleys to transport items to the cash registers near the main entrance. Notices throughout the store and outdoor areas encourage customers to request assistance with large or bulky items.

The Caf$$

The caf$$ is always busy. The seating area is surrounded by tall screens to shield customers from cold air entering through the open entrance doors, although caf$$ workers often find it too warm. Workers use hand$-$held trays to carry orders, which can be heavy and slippery, leading to frequent incidents of dropped trays. Complaints about the weight of the trays are common, but there is rarely enough time for multiple trips with a single order. The SM is considering ways to address these concerns and reduce incidents.

Outdoor Area $2$: Building Materials

Outdoor area $2$ features cracked and broken concrete floors due to vehicle and forklift traffic. Pallets of materials are positioned close together around the perimeter.

The Vertical Panel Saw $($VPS$)$

KH$$s woodcutting service uses a VPS located at the back of the store, between the two sets of automatic sliding doors. Five workers are trained to operate the VPS$,$ with Worker X frequently volunteering and Worker Y often coughing and breathless while using it$.$ Dust accumulates around the VPS$,$ swept into piles daily and vacuumed every few days. Worker X has noticed increased demand for the service, especially on weekends, spending several hours daily on the VPS$.$Outline manual handling risks arising from the work environment at KH$.$Based on scenario give $63$ bullet answer only.