Accidents at work happen every day - and one of the most common risks at work is manual handling. Risk assessments should be carried out in all places of work to minimise any hazardous manual handling that could harm employees, including manual handling whilst working from home.
Manual handling falls under the health and safety laws within the workplace - and it must be treated seriously. According to the Health and Safety Executive, manual handling tasks are responsible for a third of all workplace injuries. This is a staggering statistic and shows us why we need manual handling training in all workforces. Keep on reading to discover more about manual handling.
What Is Manual Handling?
Manual handling refers to the action of lifting, carrying or lowering heavy loads and objects whilst at work, using just your body without the aid from lifting equipment or machinery.
Objects are always going to need to be moved whilst, at work, there is no way around it. In the construction industry, there is often machinery to aid with the handling of extremely heavy loads.
Lifting things with bad positioning and with poor posture can, in both the short term and the long term, damage the body - creating aches and pains, muscular problems and overall bad posture.
Why Is Manual Handling Important?
Manual Handling is amongst the most common risk hazards whilst at work in the UK. It is done by many employees across all different industries - for example, building sites, offices, and even primary schools.
Injury from manual handling is more common in physical jobs, but manual handling incorrectly can impact anyone, including those in less physical jobs. The right training will help people to correctly lift and move loads or objects, resulting in manual handling safely.
This is why it is so important that manual handling training is given out - to make sure staff are trained. This can prevent future injury to a person's back, neck or spine - as these are the most common areas for injury from manual handling. Even if the job role does not require manual handling specifically, training is likely to come in handy at some point.
Why Do You Need Manual Handling Training?
Manual handling training is required at work because it affects most people at some point in their working lives. The risk of injury or pain from manual handling is not just for high-risk workplaces like construction sites or from any kind of labourers.
There is a risk involved with everything. Being aware of risks can stop people from getting hurt and injured in the future.
It is essential to have an understanding of manual handling and receive training on it - to acquire the knowledge and information on how to manage loads with the correct manual handling techniques.
Training on manual handling can ensure you are compliant with the health and safety laws such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, as well as the Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
These laws are in place to ensure all employers have the duty of care for their staff and visitors whilst on the business site, whilst complying with the law.
Training Courses
Training must be carried out by employees that are required to do manual handling - and a test will be completed which confirms competency in completing the course. Records of the training must be maintained for verification.
Here at Beaconrisk, we offer a variety of health and safety online training courses, which can be all found on our website - including a dedicated and safety-approved Manual Handling course.
This course is an eLearning course and tackles the issues around manual handling by increasing awareness. We are also experts in accreditation support - we can save you time, money and hassle by helping your business with the right health and safety accreditation.
If you need any further information, help or advice from experts in health and safety, then we will be happy to help you so get in touch with us today.