Manual handling covers a whole plethora of activities including lifting, carrying, lowering, pushing and pulling. Infact manual handling covers anything that needs bodily force to move or support a load.
Unfortunately more than a third of all over 7 day injuries that are reported to RIDDOR are caused by manual handling with about a half of these involving significant time off work. And a repeat injury will occur to 1 in 3 people who have previously suffered a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).
Regulation 4 of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended in 2002) requires an employer to do one of the following AVOID, ASSESS or REDUCE the need to do or the risks from any hazardous manual handling.
Manual handling injuries can occur in all types of employment such as farms, offices, building sites, banks, warehouses, hospitals, workshops, etc and it should be noted that low back pain occurs with the same frequency in people with sedentary occupations as with those in heavy labour.
At CSATS we can cover this topic for you by carrying out the risk assessments required and by offering advice on reducing manual handling operations.
Remember these assessments have to be reviewed on a regular basis.
If you contract us to carry out your initial risk assessments there is NO obligation on you to re-commission CSATS to carry out the reviews but we can do this either as a separate project or part of your retainer package if you have taken us on as your competent person.
For further information on this topic please click here to access a pdf download.
CSATS Ensuring Safety AT Work
