6.2 Manual Handling
Manual handling injuries typically cause back injury, but hands, arms and feet are also vulnerable The Manual Handling Operation Regulations came into force to reduce injuries from manual handling - the moving and lifting of loads by hand or by bodily force.
Policy
The University will comply with the Manual Handling Operations Regulations which require that the risks specifically associated with manual handling activities are assessed, and eliminated or reduced as far as reasonably practicable. There is a priority of measures that need to be taken:
- Avoid manual handling operations as far as is reasonably practicable. This may be achieved by redesign of task and the use of mechanical aids;
- Otherwise, assess the manual handling tasks;
- On the basis of the assessment, reduce the risk of injury as far as reasonably practicable. This may be done by the use of mechanical aids, reducing the weight of loads, sharing the task between several persons etc.
Duties Of Responsible Persons
The Responsible Persons in each school, department or work area needs to ensure that work under their control is undertaken by applying the priority of measures described above.
Duties of Employees
Staff should follow the safe system of work developed from the risk assessment for handling operations, using any mechanical aids provided. Any faults should be immediately reported to their manager/supervisor.
Risk Assessment
When a manual handling operation could give rise to personal injury, there is a need for a specific risk assessment, which should be writing.
A risk assessment checklist is presented in the HSE Code of Practice for Manual Handling Operation Regulations. This is a suitable means of undertaking a specific manual handling risk assessment. Guidance for the risk assessment is also reproduced below:
Numerical Guidelines For Manual Handling Risk Assessment
The following guidelines are based on the Guidance on Manual Handling Regulations produced by the HSE. The information below provides help to identify manual handling operations deserving more detailed examination. The guidelines set out an approximate boundary within which operations are unlikely to create a risk of injury sufficient to warrant more detailed assessment. This should enable assessment work to be concentrated where it is most needed.
There is no threshold below which manual handling operations may be regarded as "safe". Even operations lying within the boundary mapped out in the guidelines should be avoided or made less demanding wherever it is reasonably practicable to do so.
Individual Capability
There is a wide range of individual physical capability, even among those fit and healthy enough to be at work. The guideline figure should give reasonable occupational protection to nearly all men and between one half and two thirds of women. To provide the same degree of protection to nearly all working women the guideline figures should be reduced by about one third. "Nearly all" in this context means about 95%.
It is important to understand that the guideline figures are not limits. They may be exceeded where a more detailed assessment shows that it is appropriate to do so, having regard always to the employer's duty to avoid or reduce risk of injury where it is reasonably practicable. However, even for a minority of fit, well-trained individuals working under favourable conditions any operations which exceed the guideline figures by more than a factor of two should come under very close scrutiny.
Guidelines For Lifting And Lowering
Basic guideline figures for manual handling operations involving lifting and lowering are set out in figure 1. They assume that the load is readily grasped with both hands and that the operation takes place in reasonable working conditions with the handler in a stable body position.
The guideline figures take into consideration the vertical and horizontal position of the hands as they move the load during the handling operation, as well as the height and reach of the individual handler. It will be apparent that the capacity to lift or lower is reduced significantly if, for example, the load is held at arm's length or the hands pass above shoulder height.
Figure 1 - Basic guideline figures for lifting and lowering - see text for interpretation
If the hands enter more than one of the box zones during the operation the smallest weight figure should be used. The transition from one box zone to another is not abrupt; an intermediate figure may be chosen where the hands are close to a boundary. Where lifting and lowering with the hands beyond the box zones is unavoidable a more detailed assessment should be made.
Twisting
The basic guideline figures for lifting and lowering should be reduced if the handler twists to the side during the operation. As a rough guide the figures should be reduced by about 10% where the handler twists through 45 degrees and by about 20% where the handler twists through 90 degrees. ( The angle of twist is measured between the line of the shoulders and the line across the back of the feet.)
Frequent Lifting And Lowering
The basic guideline figures for lifting and lowering are for relatively infrequent operations - up to approximately 30 operations per hour - where the pace of work is not forced, adequate pauses for rest or recovery are possible and the load is not supported for any length of time. They should be reduced if the operation is repeated more frequently. As a rough guide the figures should be reduced by 30% where the operation is repeated once or twice per minute, by 50% where the operation is repeated around five to eight times per minute and by 80% where the operation is repeated more than about 12 times per minute.
Guidelines For Carrying
Basic guidelines for manual handling operations involving carrying are similar to those for lifting and lowering, though carrying will not normally be carried out at knuckle height.
It is assumed that the load is held against the body and is carried no further than about 10 metres without resting. If the load is carried over a longer distance without resting the guideline figures may need to be reduced.
Where the load can be carried securely on the shoulder without first having to be lifted ( as for example when unloading sacks from a lorry) a more detailed assessment may show that it is acceptable to exceed the guideline figure.
Guidelines For Pushing And Pulling
The following guideline figures are for manual handling operations involving pushing, and pulling, whether the load id slid, rolled or supported on wheels. The guideline figure for starting or stopping the load is a force of about 25 kg (ie about 250 Newtons). The guideline figure for keeping the load in motion is a force of about 10kg (ie about 100 Newtons).
It is assumed that the force is applied with the hands between knuckle and shoulder height; if this is not possible the guideline figures may need to be reduced. No specific limit is intended as to the distance over which the load is pushed or pulled provided there are adequate opportunities for rest or recovery.
Guidelines For Handling While Seated
The basic guideline figure for handling operations carried out while seated is 5 kg close to the body between shoulder and waist height. If the handling beyond the box zone is unavoidable or, for example, there is significant twisting to the side then a more detailed assessment should be made.
Figure 2 - Handling when seated - see text for interpretation
July 2004