Under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, all businesses employing more than five people are obliged to have a documented Health and Safety Policy. All work related incidents or accidents that cause death or major injuries, or result in someone not being fit for work for over seven days have to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive. These laws are well known and normally complied with.
Legislation Regarding Manual Handling Tasks
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended) are not so well known outside the industrial sector, although they do apply across the board. Obviously managers in the heavy manufacturing, logistics and related sectors expect such regulations to apply, but even in an office, you will have to take some deliveries and they may be heavy or awkward to move around. Office managers may have to train reception staff in order to be compliant.
Essential Control Measures
Employers responsibilities are threefold. They must:
- Avoid manual handling risk as much as possible
- Assess risk where it is unavoidable
- Reduce that risk as much as possible.
Sometimes manual handling tasks can be avoided by using machinery or automation. Just reorganising the work space may reduce the need to lift or move items. Where manual handling is inevitable, the risk of injury to staff can be reduced through training to make them aware of the risks and of the safest handling techniques.
Mandatory Training Programmes
Employers are therefore obliged to run ongoing training programmes to cover new recruits as soon as possible. Courses should also be in place to maintain standards of manual handling techniques in all staff, and to keep everyone up to date on developments in theories about safe manual handling.
Businesses must also keep records of the training as proof of compliance. The records should state who was trained when, and what the courses covered.
Thats why Alistair Bromhead Ltds manual handling training courses are so popular. They help with compliance as well as helping to keep people safe and to reduce work hours lost to back pain and other health problems.