Manual handling involves transporting or supporting a load by hand or bodily force, including lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying, or moving loads.
These loads can be objects, people, or animals.
Key Responsibilities
- Avoid Hazardous Manual Handling
- Employers must avoid hazardous manual handling wherever reasonably practicable. This involves identifying tasks that pose a risk and finding ways to eliminate or reduce the need for manual handling.
- Assess Risks
- When hazardous manual handling cannot be avoided, employers must assess the risk of injury. This assessment should consider factors such as the weight of the load, the frequency of handling, and the physical capabilities of the workers.
- Reduce Risks
- Employers must take steps to reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling to as low as reasonably practicable. This can include providing mechanical aids, redesigning tasks, or implementing safer handling techniques.
- Training
- Employers are responsible for ensuring that workers receive adequate training in good handling techniques. This training should cover the proper methods for lifting, carrying, and moving loads to minimize the risk of injury.
- Information Provision
- In cases where there is a risk of injury, employers must provide information about the weight and position of the centre of gravity of each load, if it is reasonably practicable to do so.
Workstation assessment
If workers use display screen equipment (DSE) daily, as part of their normal work, continuously for an hour or more, employers must do a workstation assessment.
Employers should look at:
- The whole workstation, including equipment, furniture, and work conditions.
- The job being done.
- Any special requirements of a member of staff, for example a user with a disability.
Where there are risks, they should take steps to reduce them.
Employers must also do an assessment when:
- A new workstation is set up.
- A new user starts work.
- A change is made to an existing workstation or the way it’s used.
- Users complain of pain or discomfort.
