What Do the Regulations Say About Manual Handling Training?

Any task involving an object’s transportation around a workplace is known as a manual handling task. Manual handling involves lifting, pulling, pushing, and manoeuvring anything around a workplace. Manual handling is an essential aspect of many jobs, and if not performed correctly can be hazardous to the person’s health. Applying improper techniques while manually handling objects can be risk chances of injury. Therefore, employers are legally responsible for providing manual handling training to their employees. In this blog, we will highlight manual handling regulations and the importance of manual handling training.

What Are the Manual Handling Regulations?

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (MHOR) outlines the manual handling regulations in the UK. These regulations apply to all workplaces that need manual handling practices in their daily work life. MHOR applies to all manual handling activities that may cause injuries, including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, and carrying. The MHOR requires employers to take appropriate steps to reduce the threat of harm from manual handling practices. An employer can do so by providing manual handling training to employees, assessing the risks associated with manual handling activities, and implementing control measures to control those risks. Further, the MHOR also specifies that the employer should avoid using manual handling activities where possible. Ultimately, Manual Handling Operations Regulations aim to promote workplace safety related to manual handling and ensure fewer workers are injured while performing manual handling tasks.

The risks related to manual handling can be significantly reduced if you can carry out a risk assessment. A risk assessment is a process that involves analyzing and evaluating what could cause harm to people and finding areas for potential risks, which you should work to rectify.

The Five Steps to Risk Assessment Involve:

1. Identify the hazard: To identify the risks present in the workplace, the employer can conduct observations to find the threats and ask the employees for feedback. Further, reviewing past accidents and ill health records in the workplace would help you analyze the root cause of these hazards and accidents. You should especially keep in mind the danger that comes with:

2. The particular task: Does the job require more than one person? Does it demand awkward body positions like twisting?

3. Type of load: Is the load carried too heavy for a single person? Do we need more people or equipment to transport that load?

4. The work environment: Does the floor has a good grip? Is it uneven or slippery? Are there any hindrances in the way that could increase the chance of tripping? Is the workplace lighting okay?

5. Deciding who might be harmed and how: You should observe each hazard and identify how it can hurt your staff. It would be best to consider your workers’ health, especially those vulnerable ones such as young staff, senior staff, and pregnant women.

6. Evaluate the risks: You should install control measures to evaluate the risk. Finding possible solutions to eliminate the risk factor. If you can’t stop them, you should at least lower the associated threat.

7. Record your findings and implement them: It is essential to record all the steps you take while conducting a risk assessment. This will later on come in handy to show your compliance. In many countries, the law requires employers to record all the measures they have taken to reduce workplace accidents and injuries.

8. Review and update: You should never forget your previously conducted risk assessments. It is essential to frequently review the assessments, re-assess the risks to see the threat level, and update accordingly.

Risk assessment plays an integral role in establishing workplace safety. It is the prime responsibility of employers to carry out risk assessments on a larger scale every once in a while. However, the employer can also hire a competent third-party service to conduct a risk assessment for the business. On the other hand, the employer can also train their staff to teach them how to carry out risk assessments independently. For that, the employer must educate their staff on manual handling risk assessment training. A manual handling risk assessment course would teach the trainees sufficient knowledge about carrying out a risk assessment related to manual handling threats. Additionally, these courses will educate the trainees on how to properly keep records and inform the seniors about the possible hazards in the workplace. By giving your employees appropriate training, you can shape them to become a competent person and enhance workplace safety.

Manual Handling Training

Manual handling training is essential for employees involved in manual handling practices while at work. Manual handling training aims to reduce the risk of injury from manual handling activities. The manual handling training covers the risks associated with manual handling, correct lifting and carrying techniques, how to assess risks, and how to control these risks. Additionally, Manual handling training covers the use of equipment and aids that can help to reduce the risk of injury, such as trolleys, lifting aids, and hoists. Manual handling training is a legal requirement in many countries as it ensures workplace safety. Your employer is responsible for providing manual handling training to your staff and complying with the regulations.

Importance of Manual Handling Training

· Reducing Injuries

Manual handling training guarantees safety and reduces the risk of injuries in the workplace. The most common injuries from manual handling tasks are minor, major, and musculoskeletal disorders. By providing sufficient training to your employees, you can significantly reduce the risk of your employees sustaining such types of injuries. Not only does manual training saves your employees from injuries, but it also allows them to be competent enough to work on their task safely and effectively.

· Improves Productivity

When a worker is injured, they are required to take some time off to rest and heal. This causes a loss of working days, and in all cases, the firm has to bear the cost of it. A high number of workplace injuries would mean less skilled and competent staff would be available to work, meaning more work loss. You can save your business from bearing such failure by investing in manual handling training. Manual handling training would educate the trainees on using safe manual handling techniques, reducing the probability of workplace injuries, meaning less or no loss of working days. Ultimately, when more skilled and healthy workers are available, productivity increases as each worker can focus primarily on their task and give their best.

· Legal Compliance

In most countries, providing employees with manual handling training and providing a safe working environment is a legal responsibility. Compliance with the law has its separate benefits. It increases the interest of customers, skilled workers, and stakeholders for that specific law-complaint firm. By providing your staff with manual handling training, you can ensure a safe working environment at your organization and comply with the law.

· Increase in Employee Morale.

A skilled and trained employee is likelier to perform their job effectively and safely. When workers feel safe at work, they can concentrate more and be more efficient at their tasks. By providing your employees with adequate training, you can boost their morale and build a wall of trust between the workers and the firm.

· Costs Saving

The provision of Manual handling training can lower the firm’s costs. Fewer injuries and accidents in the workplace save the firm from bearing the unwanted expenses of accident repairs or the absenteeism of workers. Furthermore, you can save your business from unwanted costs such as medical expenses, compensational claims, and legal fines by complying with the law and providing manual handling training.

Who Needs Manual Handling Training?

Generally, anyone who performs manual handling tasks in their daily work life should receive manual handling training. Here are some of the employee types who are eligible for this training.

• Warehouses and factory staff
• Heavy manual laborers
• Construction and building site workers
• Office workers
• Delivery workers
• Kitchen staff
• Farmhands

Conclusion

To summarize it all, it is clear that manual handling is a legal requirement for employers to ensure the safety and well-being of their employees. The Manual Handling Operations Regulation 1992 states that employers have a legal responsibility to provide training to their working staff. This blog has highlighted the importance of manual handling training and a guide on how it is a legal requirement. By providing your employees with training, you can ensure workplace safety, reduce the risks of accidents and injuries, improve the firm’s productivity, and comply with the law. Providing manual handling training is a legal requirement and makes good business sense. It can lead to increased productivity, improved employee morale, and cost savings. Therefore, you must ensure that your workers receive adequate training in manual handling to create a safer and more efficient workplace.