A manual handling task involves any element of lifting, loading, moving objects, pushing, or lowering of the objects that require the force exerted by hands or body. Many manual handling operations can be conducted without any severe injuries or occurrences.
On contrary, an injury caused by a manual handling task can have serious implications for employers, an affected worker, and the business.
Such injuries can occur in almost any workplace at any time. Heavy loads, poor postures, repetitive movements of arms, legs, or back, or an already existing injury can all result in an increased risk.
This blog post will explain what manual handling injuries are, hazards, and risks, and how effective risk assessment can help minimize the problem.
Manual Handling Accidents & Injuries Statistics
One in three accidents is caused by manual handling at work, and many of these can cause damage to the back. Every year 300,000 people suffer from back pain due to manual handling accidents. The damage to the back, neck, or spine can lead to the extreme pain, temporary incapacity, or permanent injury.
According to a study by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), nearly 470,000 people suffer from musculoskeletal injuries or disorders which put severe implications on businesses and employers.
Manual Handling Injuries
Manual handling can result in almost 1/3 of all the workplace injuries, to name a few of them:
- Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
- Pain or injuries in arms or legs
- Pain in the back or spine
- Repetitive strain injuries
Therefore, dealing with the problem is essential for employers to prevent the safety of their staff. And risk assessment process can help identify, examine, and control such accidents and injuries to occur at workplaces.
Manual Handling Risk Assessment
An appropriate risk assessment is needed when hazardous manual handling cannot be avoided. An adequate risk assessment process must identify where the risk of injuries lies and recognize the adequate ways to eliminate that risk.
Employers must create a checklist of the process to run the process systematically to examine and evaluate all the possible risks and ensure that they are eradicated from the workplace completely.
Involving employees in the process is a highly effective approach to identifying the risks present within the workplace or organization and finding a solution that works best for everyone. Along with this, certain factors must be taken into consideration.
Factors to Consider
When conducting manual handling risk assessment, employees must consider the four key areas to ensure safety requirements are fulfilled.
These are:
- The nature of the task
- The competencies of the individual performing the task
- The characteristics of the load
- The design of the environment
- Task
This step ‘Assessing the Task’ must involve the examination of what the manual handling process involves on a basic logistic level including the position of the load, and the distance that needs to be covered to put it to the destination. In particular, these things are to be kept in mind to identify if a lifter needs to stop in between and how far he/she needs to bend down to lift the load or is there any obstacle in the route that needs attention.
- Individual
This step requires business owners and employers to evaluate and think about the personal competencies of those involved in the process of work, including their age, previous health conditions, the equipment they use for the work, and whether or not they need the training to undertake the task competently.
Some of the manual handling work requires more strength that an individual suffering from previous injuries might not be able to perform.
Therefore, upper management needs to take into consideration such factors before they appoint their staff member for a particular task.
- Load
The third factor to consider is the load. Some loads are more difficult to transport than others for reason that goes beyond whether or not they are heavy. It is important to note whether or not the object is easy to handle, carry, or grasp.
Keeping in mind such things can help carry the load from its source to the destination safely.
- Environment
Another major part of the risk assessment process to take into consideration is the environment. Environment plays a significant role in making a manual handling task more difficult. Especially when the space is restricted, the ground is uneven or slippery, inadequate ventilation or the work environment is exposed to unsuitable weather conditions or other elements.
Considering such factors and making a complete plan to overcome such issues can help carry out the manual handling task successfully and safely.
Manual Handling Training
According to the law, employers are legally obligated to prevent the safety of their staff from undertaking manual handling operations within their workspace or organization. Sufficient training in this regard is also helpful to make them familiar with the safe practices.
There are numerous options and courses that employers can offer to their staff to make them competent enough to conduct work. Such as a manual handling risk assessment training course that helps both employers and their staff understand the risk assessment process to implement safe working practices at work.
Summary
Manual handling tasks and operations need a lot of attention and care to undertake the work safely or else the injuries or accidents caused by such work can lead to severe implications to the businesses, employers, and their affected employees.
This post is a detailed explanation of what manual handling work involves and how an effective risk assessment process can help carry out the work safely.