Moving a heavy load

What went wrong?

Rolf Cinavas (C) sustained a groin injury when he and his supervisor were attempting to move a 96kg pizza oven. They had not been trained in safe ways of carrying out the task, and no suitable risk assessment for the procedure had been carried out. Neither C nor his supervisor had been told the weight that they were required to move. This lack of assessment and planning was identified as the cause of the accident.

In court

When the HSE brought the case to court, Lincat of Lincoln (L), which produces catering equipment, admitted contravening the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. It was fined £19,400, plus £4,845 costs. In addition to the fine, it’s a pretty safe bet that C will seek compensation for his injuries.

Manual handling

Most of us carry out manual handling tasks on a day-to-day basis at work, usually without any ill- effects. However, musculoskeletal disorders, which often occur as the result of unsafe manual handling operations, are the most common cause of workplace ill-health in the UK.

So what’s the answer?

It’s impossible and impractical to ban all manual handling. One possibility is more training, and mechanical aids may be helpful. Plus preparing formal written risk assessments for manual handling is a necessity, but only for tasks where there is a significant risk of injury.

Getting it right

There are three distinct points to consider when attempting to reduce manual handling accidents:

1. Avoid the need for hazardous manual handling operations so far as is reasonably practicable.

2. Assess the risk of injuries from any hazardous manual handling that cannot be avoided.

3. Reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling operations so far as is reasonably practicable.

Tip 1. L should have realised that because of the heavy weight of the oven, a safe system of work should have been put into place involving a full risk assessment to identify the risks of moving such a load.

Tip 2. The risk assessment in this case should have involved the investigation of the use of mechanical aids such as a hoist or a forklift truck, thus preventing manual handling in the first place.

Tip 3. After the risk assessment has been completed don’t just file it away. Discuss the findings with your staff and use it to develop a safe system of work. If anything changes, then update your assessment accordingly. Involve your workforce in the assessment process; they may provide you with valuable information.

Tip 4. Training in manual handling is imperative if there is a risk of serious injury. In this case L needed to make sure that both men were trained to carry out the actual task, and how to implement the “two-man lift” technique if manual handling was the only option. Keep records of any training your staff receive.