Employers have a legal obligation to provide all their employees with Manual Handling Training; if they don’t then they could be liable if an employee injures themselves when handling heavy / awkward objects. They must instruct all their employees on how to bend and lift in the right way, and ensure that heavier items are picked up using equipment to prevent an employee injuring themselves. However, commonly employers fail to conform to the rules surrounding the correct way of training their staff in manual handling techniques.
The most common injuries incurred as a result of negligence and / or none existent manual handling procedures are mostly to the back. The back is one of the most important parts of your body, and back pain could stop all aspects of your day to day life in its tracks. It can range from being an uncomfortable feeling in the affected area to unbearable and debilitating pain depending on the severity of the injury you have.
Manual handling affects everyone from factory workers to office staff; pretty much every job in one way another can include some form of manual handling. Manual Handling is not just specified to lifting, but to pulling, pushing, carrying and lowering items.
In order to prevent manual handling incidents and injuries employers must have in place good practice procedures such as: ensuring that a risk assessment is done for every manual handling task; preventing individual members of staff from doing too much manual handling in one go; make sure every employee has the correct training; and keep their employees up to date with health and safety rules and regulations.
Employees must also insure that they follow the health and safety guidelines given to them by the employer, attend all relevant training sessions on manual handling provided, notify their employer of any dangers they might see when carrying out manual handling tasks, and notify their employer of they are unfit to carry out any of these tasks.
If you have suffered an accident at work as a result of manual handling heavy items that was not your fault, why not give us a call on our claims line 0800 634 75 75 for free no obligatory advice.
