Manual Handling Training Courses

Woodside Training and Consulting are one of Ireland’s Leading Manual Handling Training Course Providers.

What legislation covers manual handling?
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, (General Applications) Regulations 2007, Chapter 4 of  Part 2, outline the requirements that must be adhered to in relation to manual handling.

How do I comply with the legislation?

  • These Regulations requires the employer to organise the work to allow the use of mechanical or other means to avoid the need for the manual handling of loads by employees in the workplace. Organisational measures can include designing or automating a work activity to eliminate the need for manual handling (e.g. arrange for wrapping or packaging in situ or bringing treatment to a patient rather than vice versa).  It can also mean giving special consideration to the bulk purchase or movement of raw materials so as to eliminate the need to lift sacks or bags (e.g. flour, grain, powdered chemicals and animal feedstuffs or cement) and to introduce new arrangements (e.g. cement silos on building sites). Employers must consider whether manual handling can be eliminated or reduced in the design of systems of work.
  • At the outset the employer will need to carry out a full risk assessment of existing manual handling tasks before making an informed decision on what manual handling tasks need to be avoided or reduced.
  • The Regulations set out a framework for employers to avoid or reduce manual handling activity.  Employers must assess their manual handling operations and take steps to avoid or reduce the risk of injury.  The risk can be avoided or reduced through the introduction of appropriate organisational measures such as improved layout of work area to reduce unnecessary long carrying distances; or the use of appropriate means, in particular mechanical equipment.
  • Risk assessment is a process which involves gaining a detailed understanding of a task being carried out, collecting all relevant technical details of the task, identifying if there are risk factors/hazards present, exploring what options or solutions are available to reduce or eliminate the risk factors/hazards and putting a plan in place to introduce the agreed control measures.

Regulations

What is defined as manual handling in these regulations?
Regulation 68 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, (General Application) Regulations 2007 defines manual handling of loads as

“ Any transporting or supporting of any load by one or more employees, and includes lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving a load, which by reason of its characteristics or unfavourable ergonomic conditions, involves risk, particularly of back injury, to employees.”

These characteristics or unfavourable ergonomic conditions are the risk factors which are outlined in Schedule 3 of the 2007 Regulations and have the potential to cause harm.

What are the employer’s duties under the manual handling regulations?
The Duties of the Employer with regard to manual handling training are specified in Regulation 69 of the General Application Regulations 2007, Chapter 4 of Part 2. This regulation states that employers must:

(a)take appropriate organisational measures, or use the appropriate means, in particular mechanical equipment, to avoid the need for the manual handling of loads by the employer’s employees,

(b)where the need for the manual handling of loads by the employer’s employees

cannot be avoided, take appropriate organisational measures, use appropriate means or provide the employer’s employees with such means in order to reduce the risk involved in the manual handling of such loads, having regard to the risk factors specified in Schedule 3,

(c)wherever the need for manual handling of loads by the employer’s employees

cannot be avoided, organise workstations in such a way as to make such handling as safe and healthy as possible, and—

(i) taking account of the risk factors for the manual handling of loads specified in Schedule 3, assess the health and safety conditions of the type of work involved and take appropriate measures to avoid or reduce the risk, particularly of back injury, to the employer’s employees,

(ii) ensure that particularly sensitive risk groups of employees are protected

against any dangers which specifically affect them in relation to the manual handling of loads and the individual risk factors, having regard to the risk factors set out in Schedule 3,

(iii) ensure that where tasks are entrusted to an employee, his or her capabilities in relation to safety and health are taken into account, including, in relation to the manual handling of loads by employees, the individual risk factors set out in Schedule 3, and

(iv) when carrying out health surveillance in relation to the manual handling of

loads by employees, take account of the appropriate risk factors set out in

Schedule 3, and

(d) without prejudice to section 9 of the Act, ensure that those of the employer’s

employees who are involved in manual handling of loads receive general indications and, where possible, precise information on—

(i) the weight of each load, and

(ii) the centre of gravity of the heaviest side when a package is eccentrically

loaded.

Is there an appropriate guidance document to aid in compliance with the regulations?

There are two guidance documents available in relation to the Manual Handling of Loads Regulations

  • The Guide to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 Chapter 4 of Part 2: Manual Handling of Loads and
  • The HSA guidance document “ Management of Manual Handling in the Workplace”

This guidance on the Management of Manual Handling in the Workplace offers a complete guide to manual handling management and gives comprehensive details on the following topics:

  • How to carry out a manual handling risk assessment
  • Key factors in the management of manual handling
  • Case study examples of different manual handling solutions in the workplace
  • The legislation and employers duties
  • The role of ergonomics in addressing manual handling issues
  • A risk assessment template form.

Woodside Training and consulting offers Manual Handling Training courses nationwide throughout Ireland and cities such as Limerick, Cork, Dublin & Galway

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