Manual Handling Training

Manual handling accidents cause more than 37% of serious injuries reported each year to HSE and local authorities.

In 2007 an estimated 1,114,000 cases of Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) were reported to the HSE.

• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended) set no specific requirements such as weight limits.
• The ergonomic approach shows clearly that such requirements are based on too simple a view of the problem and may lead to incorrect conclusions. Instead, an ergonomic assessment based on a range of relevant factors is used to determine the risk of injury and point the way to remedial action.
• Modern medical and scientific opinion accepts the scale of the problem and stresses the importance of an ergonomic approach to remove or reduce the risk of manual handling injury. Ergonomics is sometimes described as 'fitting the job to the person, rather than the person to the job'. The ergonomic approach looks at manual handling as a whole. It takes into account a range of relevant factors, including the nature of the task, the load, the working environment and individual capability and requires worker participation.