An employee of a major high street bank recently received £19,000 in compensation for a back injury. The employee had been working for the bank for two years and during that time, her work involved lifting bags of heavy coins. Her back injury was so severe that she suffered two slipped discs and was unable to return to work for two years. It was successfully argued that the injury would never have occurred had the employee received proper training in how to lift the bags correctly.
This story demonstrates how costly a failure to provide manual handling training can be. And it’s not just the compensation costs; fines for breach of duty from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also serve to add to the damage.
Statistics Relating to Occupational Ill Health
According to the HSE, 1 million people a year are affected by a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), an injury which affects the muscles, joints and tendons. MSDs are the most common reason for occupational ill health in Great Britain, costing society £5.7 billion. Back strain and repetitive strain injuries were cited as the most common causes of MSDs.
The HSE believes that more than a third of all reported injuries to the HSE which resulted in employees being off work for more than three days were caused by negligent manual handling.
Avoiding the Costs with Manual Handling Training
Compensation claims, fines and the costs of covering employee absenteeism can all be extremely damaging for employers. They can be avoided however by investing in cost effective, value for money manual handling training and train the trainer courses, such as those offered by Alistair Bromhead Ltd. For details of courses running near you, or tailored, in-house training sessions, contact us today.