CASES & TROLLEYS
RESOURCES

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH MANUAL HANDLING:

General Risk Assessment Guidelines

 

There is no such thing as a completely ‘safe’ manual handling operation. But working within the following guidelines will cut the risk and reduce the need for a more detailed assessment.

 

 

● Use the above guide to make a quick and easy assessment. Each box contains a guideline weight for lifting and lowering in that zone. (As you can see, the guideline weights are reduced if handling is done with arms extended, or at high or low levels, as that is where injuries are most likely to occur.)

 

● Observe the work activity you are assessing and compare it to the diagram. First, decide which box or boxes the lifter’s hands pass through when moving the load. Then, assess the maximum weight being handled. If it is less than the figure given in the box, the operation is within the guidelines.

 

● If the lifter’s hands enter more than one box during the operation, use the smallest weight. Use an in-between weight if the hands are close to a boundary between boxes.

 

● The guideline weights assume that the load is readily grasped with both hands and that the operation takes place in reasonable working conditions, with the lifter in a stable body position.

 

Twisting

Reduce the guideline weights if the handler twists to the side during the operation. As a rough guide, reduce them by 10% if the handler twists beyond 45°, and by 20% if the handler twists beyond 90° .

 

Frequent lifting and lowering

The guideline weights are for infrequent operations - up to about 30 operations per hour - where the pace of work is not forced, adequate pauses to rest or use different muscles are possible, and the load is not supported by the handler for any length of time. Reduce the weights if the operation is repeated more often. As a rough guide, reduce the weights by 30% if the operation is repeated once or twice per minute, by 50% if the operation is repeated five to eight times a minute, and by 80% where the operation is repeated more than 12 times a minute.

 

Pushing and pulling

The task is within the guidelines if the following figures are not exceeded:

 

 

See ‘Good handling technique for pushing and pulling’ for some examples of forces required to push or pull loads.

 

Using the results: Do I need to make a more detailed assessment?

Using Figure 2 is a first step. If it shows the manual handling is within the guideline figures (bearing in mind the reduced limits for twisting and for frequent lifts) you need not do any more in most cases.

 

But you will need to make a more detailed assessment if:

● The conditions given for using the guidelines (eg that the load can be readily grasped with both hands) are not met;

● The person doing the lifting has reduced capacity, eg through ill health or pregnancy;

● The handling operation must take place with the hands beyond the boxes in the diagram; or

● The guideline figures in the diagram are exceeded.

 

For pushing and pulling, you should make a more detailed assessment if:

● There are extra risk factors like uneven floors or confined spaces;

● The worker can’t push or pull the load with their hands between knuckle and shoulder height;

● The load has to be moved for more than about 20 m without a break; or

● The guideline figures in the table are likely to be exceeded.

 

More advice on how to make a more detailed assessment is given in The Health and Safety Executive main guidance booklet Manual handling. Guidance on regulations (see ‘Further reading’ for details). HSE has also developed a tool called the Manual Handling Assessment Chart (MAC), to help you assess the most common risk factors in lifting, carrying and team handling. You may find the MAC useful to help identify high-risk manual handling operations and to help complete detailed risk assessments. It can be downloaded from:

www.hse.gov.uk/msd.

 

Are you saying I mustn’t exceed the guidelines?

No. The risk assessment guidelines are not ‘safe limits’ for lifting. But work outside the guidelines is likely to increase the risk of injury, so you should examine it closely for possible improvements. You should remember that you must make the work less demanding if it is reasonably practicable to do so.

 

Your main duty is to avoid lifting operations that involve a risk of injury. Where it is not practicable to do this you should assess each lifting operation and reduce the risk of injury to the lowest level reasonably practicable. As the risk of injury goes up you must look at the operation increasingly closely to make sure it has been properly assessed and the risk of injury has been reduced.