Manual handling occurs ‘when a person is supporting or transporting a load by hand or by using bodily force’.
To avoid manual handling or musculo-skeletal injuries, performing a sufficient manual handling training and applying a few simple manual handling principles can help reduce risk.
Watch our Manual Handling explainer video to learn more!
The HSE (GB) estimates that 8.9 Million working days were lost due to these MSK disorders.
Manual handling, awkward or tiring positions and keyboard work (DSE) or repetitive action are regarded as the key causes of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
As you can see, this is a significant and avoidable cost to both individuals and businesses.
In Ireland, Manual handling injuries are the most common workplace injury (see image), with over 30% physical injuries relating to the back, arm or shoulders.
For GB, in the 2020/21 business year, there were approximately 470,000 (yes, ~0.5 Million!) work-related musculoskeletal (MSK) disorder cases. 81% of these were related to the upper limbs, neck or back.
The stark figures above are the reason why manual handling training is important for businesses.
We created our free online Manual Handling training course to help solve this problem.
Free Manual Handling Training
Need a little more than the blog? You can learn the 5 Manual Handling principles by video and more, including achieving a learning certificate, just enrol in our FREE Manual Handling Training
What is Manual Handling? | Related Products
What is Manual Handling? | Recap
Hopefully this short post provides an adequate answer and explanation to the question ‘What is Manual Handling?‘.
Does your business require Health and Safety support?
Call UsIf you have a question on workplace manual handling or manual handling training, drop our H&S professionals a message via the Live Chat tool (bottom right) or by using the contact form below. We have some fantastic options for both online and classroom-based manual handling training.
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