Manual Handling Training

Manual handling is any action performed to move an object without the aid of machinery or equipment. It’s the most common cause of injury at work with the risk of back problems in particular. Chronic back pain and back disorders can seriously restrict a person’s ability work and enjoy leisure activities.

There are two main types of injury that result from poor manual handling. The first are the cuts, bruises and fractures that you might get if there is a sudden unexpected injury or accident. However, the most common type of injury are those that creeps up over a longer period, gradually damaging the body’s musculoskeletal system.

On average, over one third of work-related accidents that result in an employee being off work for more than three days are to do with manual handling. Two of the main types of injury are strains and sprains. Strains are injuries that affect muscles or tendons, which are thick bands that attach muscles to bones. Sprains on the other hand, are injuries that affect ligaments which have thick bands of cartilage that attach bone to bone. Sprains result from trauma such as a fall or outside force that knocks the surrounding joint from its normal alignment. To try and combat manual handling problems like these, the Manual Handling Operations Regulations were introduced in 1992.

Regulation 5 of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 state that staff must be fully aware of the systems of work that have been established to ensure their safety.  It is a legal requirement for all staff who perform manual handling tasks during the course of their jobs to complete manual handling training. Examples of the type of staff who should complete manual handling training are:

Training can take the form of written material and/or educational videos. It is not a legal requirement for this training to have any form of accreditation, but they do need to cover all relevant instructional material. The obvious advantage of taking an accredited course, like our manual handling training, is that employers can feel confident that the material in the course reflects the requirements of training laid out by law.

Regulation 4 of the regulations state that employers have a duty to avoid manual handling completely if there is any risk of injury. To comply with Regulation 4, employers must follow the steps below

• The first step is to avoid any manual handling at all if it is reasonably practicable.
• Second, if the manual handling can’t be avoided, then conduct risk assessment on the hazards.
• And third, employers must reduce the risk of injury as far as reasonably practicable.

By examining your existing activities, you can find opportunities to avoid manual handling altogether. This will improve your health and safety record and often improve efficiency and productivity. However, there will be occasions when manual handling can’t be avoided. Therefore, it is good practice to routinely make manual handling training available to all staff.

The course details the TILE method of manual handling. The acronym stands for the four specific areas that are critical in manual handling.

T stands for task itself.   Does the manual handling require the person to twist, stoop or bend?   Does the task involve excessive lifting, pushing etc?

I stands for Individual. This looks at the capabilities of the individual performing the task.   Does the individual have any vulnerabilities – pregnancy, age etc?

L stands for Load.      Assess the weight and size, and any other characteristic such as ability to grip or loose parts.

E stands for Environment   This looks at obstacles that makes the tasks more challenging. This might be an uneven floor, poor lighting or extreme temperatures.

Employers have a legal duty to assess their manual handling operations. They must take steps to cut the risk of injury to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable. And that means providing aids and equipment where appropriate. Employees and safety representatives should be consulted during the assessment and when possible solutions are being considered.

The choice of equipment is likely to be covered by the Provision and use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.  These regulations also detail that the equipment needs to be periodically inspected normally twice a year or annually depending on the purpose and design of the equipment.

You also need to know the answers to these questions

• is the proposed use within the safe working load of the equipment
• is the handling age suitable for the area in which it will be used.
• Will there be enough room to manoeuvre and sufficient headroom for instance, and
• is it suitable for the terrain in terms of stability and ground surface.

NB: Please note that this is an awareness course only, if your duties include manual handling you will also need further practical training, you can get in touch with us to arrange this. Training your employees with our online system will go a long way to giving them greater awareness of the dangers that poor manual handling poses, as well as covering safe handling techniques, practical solutions to manual handling issues and the use of mechanical aids