A third of workplace accidents are caused by manual handling accidents
Employers have a duty of care to employees, and that includes minimising the risk of accidents at work. From a financial point of view, avoiding manual-handling injuries makes business sense, as accidents can lead to compensation claims as well as incidental costs such as additional salaries for replacement cover.
All organisations have a duty to protect employees from injury from manual handling activities and this is outlined in The Manual Handling Operations (MHO) Regulations 1992. Manual handling is defined as ‘any transporting or supporting of a load and includes the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof by hand or by bodily force’. It’s the employers’ responsibility to ensure that manual handling risk assessments are carried out by competent people. This should be done through consultation with those who actually do the work and by observing their handling activities. DCL can provide guidance on how to compile all the necessary risk assessments.