MANUAL HANDLING
When you're lifting, or stacking, or moving things about, you're not
just using your hands. You're using all the tools at your disposal, all
the muscles, joints and ligaments in your body.
People with manual handling tasks use
these tools every day. But like anything used frequently, these tools -
these muscles, joints and ligaments - get taken for granted. That's when
accidents happen.
In fact, more than a third of all industrial accidents, every year, are
caused by handling loads. Just by pushing, pulling, or lifting. Most of
these injuries are strains - to back, arms, hands, fingers - and
sprains: to the wrist, the thumb, the ankle.
These accidents are often caused by lifting heavy things too often, or
twisting round to stack things at the side, or pulling loads by the
simple measure of bracing the back and giving a good heave.
Many of these accidents can be prevented. They should be prevented, in
fact, because employers have the legal duty to: "So far as is
reasonably practical, avoid the need for their employees to undertake
any manual handling operation at work which involve a risk to their
being injured".
It is in the employers' legal interests to make sure their employees are
handling goods and loads safely.
It's also in their economic interests. Millions of working hours are
lost every year through injury, and personal injury cases and
compensation packages can prove costly.
Employers could even boost productivity by training their employees to
handle loads properly, or by providing materials handling equipment to
aid them with the job. Lifting something by hand is hard work;
fortunately today's employer has solutions to lighten the load.
MANUAL HANDLING : LIFT THAT LOAD
There are a few simple rules to remember when handling loads.
Keep it close to the body
The further away the load, the more stress on your lower back. Holding a
load at arms length puts five times more weight on your back than
holding it close to you. Keeping it close to your chest makes you more
stable - and the friction of your clothes helps keep the weight where
you want it.
Check your feet
Get close to the job: Stand square on to the load, with your leading leg
as far forward as comfortable, preferably facing the direction you're
going to move in next.
Use your legs
If you have to bend down to pick something up, don't stoop - bend the
legs, and use your strong leg muscles to take the weight. It's not a
good idea to handle loads when sitting down - you can't use your leg
muscles, you can't use your body weight as a counter balance, and you're
asking too much of your arms and upper body.
Pulling and pushing power
You have more power when pulling or pushing if your footing is secure -
make sure the floor is dry and solid. Grip the load between waist and
shoulder to ease strain on the back and the arms. Even better, turn your
back to it and push with your legs: they have strong leg muscles for a
reason.
Is it too big?
Make sure that the load is small enough to enable you to get a good
grip, and see where you're going. If any side of what you're carrying -
length, width or height - is more than 75cm then you run a greater
chance of injuring yourself. Make sure you know where the centre of
gravity is; keep the heaviest side nearest to your body.
Not too far
If you can lift a load and carry it easily against your body, you'll
also be able to carry it safely. Don't carry it too far, however: more
than 10m and you'll probably be using all your energy in carrying the
load, and have none left to put it down safely.
How much weight?
It is difficult to give precise guidelines about how much weight people
should be carrying, because people vary so much. Weight is only one of
the risk factors to manual handlers. A diagram on page 6 shows the
guideline weights that men and women should be carrying safely.
Don't twist
You could hurt your back. Lift, carry and place in one direction where
possible. If you have to put a load in an exact possible, put it down
first, and then adjust it, when the weight is off you.
Slave to the rhythm?
Don't make the same movement too often - it can lead to repetitive
strain injury. HSE guidelines allow for lifting or lowering a load once
every two minutes. Any more than this, and the employer should be
carrying out a detailed survey of the risks involved - see pages 10-13
for more details. Take a break now and then, or alternate one handling
job with another, to give different muscle groups a rest.
MANUAL HANDLING : GET A LITTLE HELP
Lifting and Lowering
Employers can reduce the risk of injury to their employees by providing
materials handling equipment for moving loads. In fact, the Health and
Safety Executive recommends that employees use machines and tools to
take the strain. Investing in equipment, such as scissor lifts or
moveable, powered workstations, will actually help employers meet their
legal obligation to protect their workforce from injury, and to keep
them safe and fit.
Rather than asking employees to lift and lower items, bending down and
reaching up to do it, get a machine to bring the items to the right
height.
For example, a scissor lift truck can be loaded with the goods, and then
raised or lowered to the height needed to transfer the loads safely to
the next stage. If the goods are extremely heavy, or have to be
transported, a powered workstation can do the job efficiently.
Pulling and Pushing
The risk of injury may also be reduced if lifting can be replaced by
controlled pushing or pulling. However, uncontrolled sliding or rolling,
particularly of large or heavy loads, may introduce fresh risks of
injury. Generally, people can exert more force towards and away from
their bodies than sideways.
For both pulling and pushing, a secure footing should be ensured, and
the hands applied to the load at a height between waist and shoulder
wherever possible. For pushing and pulling operations the guideline
figures assume the force is applied with the hands between knuckle and
shoulder height.
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