Essay on Occupational Safety and Health and Manual Handling

Submitted By crazy825
Words: 3864
Pages: 16
Open Document
Health and Safety
Executive

Manual handling at work
A brief guide

Introduction
This leaflet describes what you, as an employer, may need to do to protect your employees from the risk of injury through manual handling tasks in the workplace. It will also be useful to employees and their representatives.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, as amended in 2002
(‘the Regulations’) apply to a wide range of manual handling activities, including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying. The load may be either animate, such as a person or an animal, or inanimate, such as a box or a trolley.

What’s the problem?
This is a web-friendly version of leaflet INDG143(rev3), published 11/12

Incorrect manual handling is one of the most common causes of injury at work. It causes work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) which account for over a third of all workplace injuries. (For the latest statistics, visit the HSE web page, www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/musculoskeletal/index.htm.) Manual handling injuries can happen anywhere people are at work – on farms and building sites, in factories, offices, warehouses, hospitals, banks, laboratories, and while making deliveries. Heavy manual labour, awkward postures, manual materials handling, and previous or existing injury are all risk factors in developing MSDs.
There is more information and advice on MSDs on the HSE website, including advice on managing back pain at work.
Taking the action described here will help prevent these injuries and is likely to be cost effective. But you can’t prevent all MSDs, so it is still essential to encourage early reporting of symptoms.

What should I do about it?
Consider the risks from manual handling to the health and safety of your employees – this guidance will help you to do this. If there are risks, the Regulations apply. Consult and involve the workforce. Your employees and their representatives know first hand what the risks in the workplace are. They can probably offer practical solutions to controlling them.
The Regulations require employers to:

■■ avoid the need for hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably
■■
■■

practicable; assess the risk of injury from any hazardous manual handling that can’t be avoided; and reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Page 1 of 10

Health and Safety
Executive

These points are explained in detail under ‘Avoiding manual handling’ and
‘Assessing and reducing the risk of injury’.
Employees have duties too. They should:

■■
■■
■■
■■
■■

follow systems of work in place for their safety; use equipment provided for their safety properly; cooperate with their employer on health and safety matters; inform their employer if they identify hazardous handling activities; take care to make sure their activities do not put others at risk.

Avoiding manual handling
Check whether you need to move it at all
For example:

■■ Does a large workpiece really need to be moved, or can the activity
■■

(eg wrapping or machining) be done safely where the item already is?
Can raw materials be delivered directly to their point of use?

Consider automation, particularly for new processes
Think about mechanisation and using handling aids. For example:

■■
■■
■■
■■

a conveyor; a pallet truck; an electric or hand-powered hoist; a lift truck.

But beware of new hazards from automation or mechanisation.
For example:

■■ automated plant still needs cleaning, maintenance etc;
■■ lift trucks must be suited to the work and have properly trained operators.
Controlling the risks
As part of managing the health and safety of your business, you must control the risks in your workplace. To do this you need to think about what might cause harm to people and decide whether you are doing enough to prevent harm. This process is known as a risk assessment and it is something you are required by law to carry out. A risk assessment is about identifying and taking sensible
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Occupational Safety and Health and Manual Handling

Principles Of Personal Development In Adult Social Care Settings

2002 Health and safety at work at 1974 – the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in great Britain. The health and safety executive with local authorities is responsible for enforcing the act and a number of other acts and statutory instruments relevant to the working environment. Manual handling operations regulations 1992 – MHOR regulations set out a clear ranking of measures for dealing with risks from manual handling these are: FIRST- avoid hazardous manual handling…

Words 499 - Pages 2

Guide for Young Workers in Hospitality Essay

Safety at Work This booklet is published and promoted by the WorkCover NSW Consumer Services Industry Reference Group © Copyright: Commerce Queensland ? Occupational Health and Safety Why Bother? You are probably aware that a large percentage of persons employed in the hospitality industry are either school students or recent school leavers. The age of the workforce together with high levels of staff turnover raise occupational health and safety concerns in the industry. As a young worker…

Words 2980 - Pages 12

Essay on Health And Saftey Question 1

Outcome 1, 1.1 Explain the legislative framework for health, safety and risk management in the work setting Legislation Its purpose My responsibility The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It provides the legal framework to promote, stimulate and encourage high standards of health and safety in places of work. It protects employees and the public from work…

Words 828 - Pages 4

Topic of Report Essay examples

for all involved in occupational health and safety. The factors which cause workplace accidents and occupational illnesses are called hazards. The need for systematic management of OHS hazards and their attendant risks applies to all organisations and all activities and functions within an organisation. It is important to distinguish between hazard, risk and exposure when undertaking risk management. Hazard is the potential for harm, or adverse effect on an employee’s health. Anything which may…

Words 3072 - Pages 13

Social: Occupational Safety and Health and Personal Protective Equipment Essay

1.1 Legislations relating to general Health and Safety in social care setting : Health and Safety at work Act 1974 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999 Manual Handling operations Regulations 1992 Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995(RIDDOR) Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) Provision and use of work equipment 1992 (PUWER) Lifting operation and lifting equipment regulations 1992 Personal Protective…

Words 446 - Pages 2

assingment 1 done Essay

Molinaro Unit 27: Understanding health and safety in the workplace Health and safety 1 Task 1 (p1) Manual handling operation regulations 1992 The manual handling operation regulations of 1992 define it as any transporting or supporting of a load including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof by hand or by bodily force.In effect, any activity that requires an individual to lift, move or support a load will be classified as a manual handling task. More than a third of…

Words 5680 - Pages 23

Health and Social Care Essay

P2 – Outline legislation, policies and procedures, relating to health, safety and security. The first legislation I am going to talk about is the COSHH one, COSHH stands for Control of substances hazardous to health regulations. The ‘COSHH’ regulation is to help us protect the people in our work places, and from the hazardous substances. This can be used directly in the work, such as cleaning chemicals and chemical reagents. This can arise from the work activities, like dust, fumes and waste fumes…

Words 746 - Pages 3

Essay on Legislation: Occupational Safety and Health and Health

Legislation Health & safety at work act (training for staff/risk assessments) The UK has one of the lowest accident rates in the world. The health and safety at work act 1974 is one of the main reasons for this. Legislation over the last 30 years has helped bring about significant improvements in health and safety in the workplace (including a reduction in fatalities of nearly two-thirds since the act was introduced). Still now, over 200 people are killed each year during work in the UK and…

Words 1489 - Pages 6

Cars: Waste Management and Personal Protective Equipment Essay

IOSH safestartup .org Adopted Occupation – Dental Technician (Eileen Blackmore) Hazards Substances hazardous to health Biological agents Use of hand / power tools Manual handling Poor posture Flying debris Noise Waste materials Slips and trips Flammable gases Substances hazardous to health Working as a dental technician can involve exposure to hazardous substances, e.g. metal dust particles, acrylic monomers and polymers, and cyanoacryilates. Substances may have 'acute' (immediate)…

Words 3017 - Pages 13

Unit 8 P4 Health And Social Care Research Paper

1. Describe the roles and responsibilities of themselves and others under the health and safety at work act and other current legislation (such as the management of health and safety at work regulations; workplace health and safety and welfare regulations; personal protective equipment at work regulations; manual handling operations regulations; provision and use of work equipment regulations; display screen at work regulations, reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations)…

Words 1886 - Pages 8