Getting to Grips: page 2

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. More information and advice on MSDs is available on the HSE website, including advice on managing back pain at work (see ‘Further reading’).

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 booklet 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.

What should I do about it?

Consider the risks from manual handling to the health and safety of your employees - the rest of this booklet will help you to do this. If there are risks, the Regulations apply.

Consult and involve the workforce. Your employees and their representatives know first-hand what the risks in the workplace are. They can probably offer practical solutions to controlling them.

What are my duties?

The Regulations require employers to:

• avoid the need for hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable;
• assess the risk of injury from any hazardous manual handling that can’t be avoided; and
• reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable.

These points are explained in detail under ‘Avoiding manual handling’ and ‘Assessing and reducing the risk of injury’.

Employees have duties too.
They should:

• follow appropriate systems of work laid down for their safety;
• make proper use of equipment provided for their safety;
• co-operate with their employer on health and safety matters;
• inform the employer if they identify hazardous handling activities;
• take care to ensure that their activities do not put others at risk.

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