CASES & TROLLEYS
RESOURCES

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH MANUAL HANDLING:

What's The Problem?

 

More than a third of all over-three-day injuries reported each year to HSE and local authorities are caused by manual handling – the transporting or supporting of loads by hand or by bodily force. The pie chart shows the pattern for over-three-day injuries reported in 2001/02.

 

The most recent survey of self-reported work-related illness estimated that in 2001/02, 1.1 million people in Great Britain suffered from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused or made worse by their current or past work. An estimated 12.3 million working days were lost due to these work-related MSDs. On average each sufferer took about 20 days off in that 12-month period.

 

Manual handling injuries can occur wherever 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 implicated in the development of MSDs.

 

 

Prevention and control of MSDs, such as manual handling injuries, has been identified as a priority by the Health and Safety Commission.

 

Taking the action described in this section will help prevent these injuries and is likely to be cost-effective. However you cannot prevent all MSDs, so it is still essential to encourage early reporting of symptoms and make arrangements for the proper treatment and rehabilitation of anybody who does get injured.