diff --git a/changelog.d/11580.misc b/changelog.d/11580.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2c48e22de0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/11580.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add some safety checks that storage functions are used correctly.
diff --git a/synapse/storage/database.py b/synapse/storage/database.py
index a219999f15..2cacc7dd6c 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/database.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/database.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ from synapse.metrics.background_process_metrics import run_as_background_process
 from synapse.storage.background_updates import BackgroundUpdater
 from synapse.storage.engines import BaseDatabaseEngine, PostgresEngine, Sqlite3Engine
 from synapse.storage.types import Connection, Cursor
+from synapse.util.iterutils import batch_iter
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from synapse.server import HomeServer
@@ -986,7 +987,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         self,
         table: str,
         keys: Collection[str],
-        values: Iterable[Iterable[Any]],
+        values: Collection[Collection[Any]],
         desc: str,
     ) -> None:
         """Executes an INSERT query on the named table.
@@ -1427,7 +1428,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         self,
         table: str,
         keyvalues: Dict[str, Any],
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         allow_none: Literal[False] = False,
         desc: str = "simple_select_one",
     ) -> Dict[str, Any]:
@@ -1438,7 +1439,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         self,
         table: str,
         keyvalues: Dict[str, Any],
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         allow_none: Literal[True] = True,
         desc: str = "simple_select_one",
     ) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
@@ -1448,7 +1449,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         self,
         table: str,
         keyvalues: Dict[str, Any],
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         allow_none: bool = False,
         desc: str = "simple_select_one",
     ) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
@@ -1618,7 +1619,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         self,
         table: str,
         keyvalues: Optional[Dict[str, Any]],
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         desc: str = "simple_select_list",
     ) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
         """Executes a SELECT query on the named table, which may return zero or
@@ -1681,7 +1682,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         table: str,
         column: str,
         iterable: Iterable[Any],
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         keyvalues: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None,
         desc: str = "simple_select_many_batch",
         batch_size: int = 100,
@@ -1704,16 +1705,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
 
         results: List[Dict[str, Any]] = []
 
-        if not iterable:
-            return results
-
-        # iterables can not be sliced, so convert it to a list first
-        it_list = list(iterable)
-
-        chunks = [
-            it_list[i : i + batch_size] for i in range(0, len(it_list), batch_size)
-        ]
-        for chunk in chunks:
+        for chunk in batch_iter(iterable, batch_size):
             rows = await self.runInteraction(
                 desc,
                 self.simple_select_many_txn,
@@ -1853,7 +1845,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         txn: LoggingTransaction,
         table: str,
         keyvalues: Dict[str, Any],
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         allow_none: bool = False,
     ) -> Optional[Dict[str, Any]]:
         select_sql = "SELECT %s FROM %s WHERE %s" % (
@@ -2146,7 +2138,7 @@ class DatabasePool:
         table: str,
         term: Optional[str],
         col: str,
-        retcols: Iterable[str],
+        retcols: Collection[str],
         desc="simple_search_list",
     ) -> Optional[List[Dict[str, Any]]]:
         """Executes a SELECT query on the named table, which may return zero or
diff --git a/synapse/storage/databases/main/pusher.py b/synapse/storage/databases/main/pusher.py
index b73ce53c91..7ab681ed6f 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/databases/main/pusher.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/databases/main/pusher.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from synapse.storage.database import DatabasePool, LoggingDatabaseConnection
 from synapse.storage.util.id_generators import StreamIdGenerator
 from synapse.types import JsonDict
 from synapse.util import json_encoder
-from synapse.util.caches.descriptors import cached, cachedList
+from synapse.util.caches.descriptors import cached
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from synapse.server import HomeServer
@@ -196,27 +196,6 @@ class PusherWorkerStore(SQLBaseStore):
         # This only exists for the cachedList decorator
         raise NotImplementedError()
 
-    @cachedList(
-        cached_method_name="get_if_user_has_pusher",
-        list_name="user_ids",
-        num_args=1,
-    )
-    async def get_if_users_have_pushers(
-        self, user_ids: Iterable[str]
-    ) -> Dict[str, bool]:
-        rows = await self.db_pool.simple_select_many_batch(
-            table="pushers",
-            column="user_name",
-            iterable=user_ids,
-            retcols=["user_name"],
-            desc="get_if_users_have_pushers",
-        )
-
-        result = {user_id: False for user_id in user_ids}
-        result.update({r["user_name"]: True for r in rows})
-
-        return result
-
     async def update_pusher_last_stream_ordering(
         self, app_id, pushkey, user_id, last_stream_ordering
     ) -> None: