Back-breaking boxes

A Conservative MP has called for a ban on low-level letterboxes on new properties to help colleagues avoid back injuries as well as attacks by household pets.

Low-level letter boxes can put an unnecessary strain on our people as they carry out their daily deliveries across the UK.

Vicky Ford called on the Government to amend building regulations to require letterboxes in new buildings to be positioned above a certain height. Speaking in the Commons, the MP for Chelmsford said: ‘The purpose of the Bill is to improve the health and safety of workers particularly postmen and women, paper boys and girls and other deliverers.

‘Now I am not asking home owners to retrospectively change their existing letterboxes or replace their front doors. When it comes to front doors, a lot of people are very fond of their knockers. This Bill simply wants to stop developers from building swathes of homes each with a letterbox placed near the ground.’

Mrs Ford said that postmen and women were now delivering fewer letters but many more parcels due to people ordering goods online, and that low-level letterboxes were putting a strain on colleagues’ backs as well as heightening the risks of dog bites, trapped fingers and musculo-skeletal injuries. 

‘Health and Safety at work is really important and anyone who has ever suffered from back pain knows just how debilitating this can be,’ she said. ‘Back injury is the largest cause of sickness for Royal Mail workers who recorded over 16,800 back related absence spells last year.

‘The occasional low-level box is not a big issue but where developers fit row after row of front doors with ankle high boxes, the deliverers face repetitive stress. Low letterboxes are also associated with an increased likelihood from injury from dogs or cats. Each week across the UK there are on average 44 dog attacks on postal workers and 50 attacks from cats every year.’ 

Low letterboxes were more difficult to see Mrs Ford added, resulting in more hand injuries and more damage to mail, while also being easier for thieves to steal post. 

‘We all need to declare a bit of an interest,’ she said. ‘We politicians have been known to deliver an occasional leaflet ourselves. I understand the Government may be consulting on changes to the building regulations later this year so I hope the minister will take the messages from this Bill seriously and make sure the necessary changes come into force.’

Mrs Ford mentioned that there was a European standard, suggesting a minimum height of 70cm, adding: ‘Not all European standards are evil. Every day our postal workers deliver for us, let us now deliver for them.’ 

The MP's Low-Level Letter Boxes (Prohibition) Bill was listed for a second reading on Friday 8 March.