In article <008901c380fe$76e0d340$139cbc3e@oemcomputer>, Christine Gray
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>You do not have to be out of shape to be unable to
>handle hives with safety - as Murray says, " No full supers, even shallow
>ones, come within the parameters set [by  Health and Safety regulations in
>Europe].

For fear of being misunderstood, I do not actually agree that it is
*generally* unsafe to handle these things. The rules are set for the
lowest common denominator. Weak persons, not lifting correctly. Then you
are also supposed to have trained them, or ensured that they are
formally trained elsewhere.

Even largely unfit persons should be able to lift more than the
prescribed limits, which are set to protect those who really cannot, but
take no account of the differences between people. There have been no
staff here who would tolerate fiddling away for a fair chunk of the day
with tiny loads, to do what they could do in less than an hour carrying
decent loads. Even the smallest girls want to carry shallow supers three
or so at a time when empty combs, and a Canadian guy (no giant) would
carry them three at a time full, and resent being told not to.

I doubt the genuinely feeble would really want to take up beekeeping,
but if they do they can, as you say, go in as a hobbyist and then their
time is their own and they can harvest a comb at a time if they wish
(and some do).

I personally prefer deep boxes, even when full, as fewer lifts gets the
job done quicker, and besides, our crop statistics over many years shows
that the bees prefer big combs too.

>  I find it extraordinary that suppliers still sell hives without
>safety warnings and wonder when the first court case will come.

Only at the professional level I feel is there much risk here, and you
have to defend yourself by appropriate training, and getting it signed
for. At an amateur level, you see some appliance dealers showing empty
and full weights for various box sizes, and they are in some of the text
books too, then, having been informed of this, you make your own
choices. They declared it, so the risk is your own.

>This is the only hive I know of which can
>be claimed to keep lifting within UK Health & Safety guidelines.  Can anyone
>help to draw up a list of other hives available to beekeepers to which that
>also applies?

Perhaps there are none (indeed I fully expect that to be the case) but
perhaps that has a message in itself. Where there is demand a product
will quickly come along to fill that demand, and as nothing other than
your hive is currently in that niche it perhaps says more than anything
about the need being less than might at first be thought, and therefore
being uneconomic for the mainstream appliance dealers.

I am sure the niche market for your hive will continue, and I reckon so
long as it stays as a niche item you will be safe from aggressively
priced competitors. The one I have seen being shown by a mutual friend
was a good hive for its purpose.

Murray

--
Murray McGregor

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