Manual Handling and the Reponsibilities of Employers

Manual Handling and the Reponsibilities of Employers

One of the most common injuries that we encounter at the Injury Lawyers is caused by employers not providing instructions on how to handle heavy or awkward objects. The relevant legislation in England and Wales is the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.

First of all an employer needs to consider whether these regulations may be relevant to them, the question to be asked is whether the employer has manual handling as part of their operation. If so then a risk assessment should be conducted by the employer and, if there is a possibility that the rules might apply, then consideration of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations should be put in place.

So what do the Manual Handling Operations Regulations cover?

Regulation 2 confirms that a load can include an animal or person. And ‘Manual handling operations’ are defined as ‘any transporting or supporting of a load (including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof) by hand or by bodily force.’

Regulation 4 of the same regulations requires that an employer shall avoid the need for employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of them being injured. This doesn’t necessarily have to encompass a single incident and an injury can develop through doing the same action for a prolonged period of time. This is a very difficult burden for the employer to discharge as manual handling may well be a necessary part of the employee occupation. Therefore employers should look to provide training on how to minimize the risk of injury to an employee, for example, keeping your back straight and bending with your knees when lifting.