MANAGING MANUAL HANDLING JENNIFER LEWIS MH COORDINATOR, PCC

Manual handling & you Why do I need to know about manual handling? What do I need to do about manual handling? What help and Guidance is available to help me?

Manual handling is defined as the supporting or transporting of a load by hand or bodily force Manual Handling Operations Regulations, Guidance on Regulations, L23, HSE, 1992

Why do we need to know about manual handling? The law and you

Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974 Procedures Induction Policy Safe systems of work Equipment demo Foundation Refresher On site Senior staff take the lead Shadowing Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974 Employers must provide the following Information Instructions Training Supervision As is necessary to ensure the reasonable health and safety of their employees

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, 1999 requires employers to provide adequate health and safety training: • On recruitment. • When risks change. • To be repeated periodically where appropriate. • To take place during working hours.

Manual handling operations regulations 1992 Employees should be given information on: • Task; individual capability; load; environment and other factors. • Recognition of risk. • Safe working systems. • Use of equipment.

A national practice guideline Welsh Local Government Association Passport for Object Handling (2011)

THE COST OF POOR HANDLING 1 in 5 workplace injuries relate to manual handling In 2012/2013, an estimated 55,000 manual handling related workplace injuries resulted in an absence from work for longer than three days, with the average time lost per injury being 10.8 working days. Approximately 1.6 million working days were lost due to MH injuries in 2012/2013. Good handling has benefits: For organisation For employee For clients Data from Labour Forces Survey 2012-2013

What do we need to do about manual handling? Plan it, Do it, Record it

What do we need to do about manual handling? Culture of good practice Manual handling risk assessment Provision and use of equipment Staff training and support

equipment WHERES YOUR EVIDENCE? PUWER 1998 provision and use of work equipment regulations LOLER 1998 lifting operations and lifting equipment regulations Suitable and sufficient for purpose Maintained in good working order (Including servicing and thorough inspection) Staff know how and when to use it WHERES YOUR EVIDENCE?

Risk assessment WHY WHEN WHAT WHO HOW

Manual handling operations regulations 1992 Avoid hazardous handling operations as far as is reasonably practicable Where operations cannot be avoided, these operations, and their hazards, must be formally assessed The risks of injury must be reduced to the lowest level reasonably practicable. It is important to note that these regulations acknowledge that not all handling is avoidable – this is why we have a MINIMUM handling policy. We acknowledge that hazardous handling must be reduced as far as possible, but we also acknowledge that some handling cannot be avoided. Case Law has shown that it is not acceptable to have a blanket NO HANDLING policy, which would not allow us to meet the duty of care to our clients. An individualised approach is needed to strike a balance between the human rights of service users and the rights of carers to a safe working environment Formal v Dynamic Individualised v blanket policy Templates available Examples available Tileo exercise accessibility

MANUAL HANDLING RISK ASSESSMENT task I individual L load E environment O other

L23 lifting and lowering risk assessment filter

Safe systems of work They only work if your staff know they exist! A SSW is a formal procedure which results from a thorough examination of a task, to identify hazards. Once the hazards are identified, the SSW will set out the safest way of working to ensure that risks are minimised. SSW are required when hazards cannot be physically removed and some elements of risk remain. They only work if your staff know they exist!

TRAINING WHO WHEN HOW DISCUSSION, DEMONSTRATION & PRACTICE

TRAINING ALL WALES LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION STANDARD RELEVANT TO ROLE AND LEVEL OF RISK DOCUMENTED CONTENT, DURATION, ATTENDANCE UPDATED AS REQUIRED

What help or guidance is there for us?

Sources of information Managing Manual Handling Checklist (PCC document) 2015 L23 Guidance on Manual Handling Operations Regulations, 1992, HSE WLGA (2011) Passport for Object Handling, free to download for templates of risk assessment, safe systems of work and training standards HSE website – case studies, free downloadable guidance on MSDs, MAC tools, Risk Assessment guidance and Manual Handling information sheets including Handling kerbs, Handling Heavy Building Blocks, Motor Vehicle Repair etc.