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February 21, 2022

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The missing link in manual handling

The statistics are impossible to ignore. 470,000 workers suffered from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSDs) in Great Britain in 2020-21. In 2019-20 MSDs accounted for 8.9million lost working days in Great Britain.

Here, Matt Powell-Howard, NEBOSH Head of Product Development, takes a closer look at how organisations can help to reduce MSDs in the workforce…

Matthew Powel-HowardOne of the leading causes of MSDs is manual handling. Many organisations jump straight to providing training on manual handling – how to lift etcetera. But those that do this are missing a crucial link – risk assessment.

Taking a step back to risk assess manual handling activities is incredibly effective and can often help to eliminate or reduce an activity. Or, if manual handling is required, then you’ll have all the information you need to select the most appropriate training to protect your workers.

You often see a ‘it’s just this once’ attitude when it comes to manual handling. But actually, this can be really damaging, especially when compounded over years of work. The Health & Safety Executive statistics show that only 162,000 of the 470,000 workers suffering with an MSD were a new case. I’m going to go out on a limb(!) and assume that this means a significant number of these cases are cumulative trauma, brought on by continual stressing of the body. It’s often the smallest movement, such as tying a shoelace or even sneezing, that can tip us over the edge and results in pain.

I should know! Lifting and carrying were part of my early career – when you’re young you think ‘that won’t happen to me’ (another reason why communication is such a critical skill for health and safety professionals). But I’ve paid the price – I’ve had years of back pain, surgeries and missing out on sports, activities and even playing with my children. Thankfully I now have a role which is much less physical but what if I hadn’t found a new career? Due to MSDs, I’ve known employers who have lost some really skilled workers who have had to leave a job they loved and brought real value too.

The missing link in manual handling

So, I think I’ve made a clear case for why we should risk assess manual handling – the data quoted here is from Great Britain but there are plenty of statistics available that this is a worldwide issue. But how do we go about it and make sure it’s robust? This diagram illustrates why things don’t have to be complex to be effective; it’s based on a process and principles that many safety professionals will be familiar with (avoid, assess, reduce, review etc).

NEBOSH has also teamed up with the Health & Safety Executive to develop a one-day qualification – the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Manual Handling Risk Assessment – that teaches practical solutions to help you work through this process, recognising, assessing, and managing manual handling risks. You’ll get to do a manual handling risk assessment based on a workplace scenario too, to make sure you feel confident going and doing this in your own workplace.

The NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Manual Handling Risk Assessment is available to study via NEBOSH’s global network of Learning Partners.


Webinar: Manual handling? Don’t do it until you have risk assessed!

Matt Powell-Howard will be discussing this topic, alongside HSE’s Principal Ergonomics Consultant, Matt Birtles, Cindy Bell, Safety, Health and Env. Advisor at Greggs, and George Mosey, Head of Health and Safety, Europe, Laing O’Rourke, at 11am on Wednesday 23 February.

By joining the session, for free, you will gain an overview of the issues and impact of manual handling, take away tips to help you get started on a manual handling risk assessment and hear real-life solutions to manual handling challenges.

Sign up for this webinar, Manual handling? Don’t do it until you have risk assessed!

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