The Manual Handling Procedure assists businesses to maintain safe and healthy workplaces by ensuring hazardous manual handling tasks are understood and reported so that the appropriate steps can be taken to minimise or eliminate the workplace hazards.
Manual handling procedures help to protect employees from musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), which are injuries to, or a disease of, the musculoskeletal system, whether occurring suddenly or over time. MCDs may include conditions such as joint, bone, nerve and back injuries, muscular and vascular disorders, soft tissue hernias, chronic pain and sprains of muscles, ligaments and tendons.
Hazardous manual tasks are tasks that require a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any person, animal or thing involving repetitive or sustained force, high or sudden force, repetitive movement, sustained or awkward posture or exposure to vibration.
The Manual Handling Procedure ensures that:
- responsibilities concerning work health and safety are understood
- potentially hazardous manual handling tasks are reported
- risk assessments are carried out, and
- controls are implemented to eliminate or minimise health and safety risk.
The procedure operates in conjunction with:
- 502 – Hazard, Accident, Injury, Incident Investigation Form
- 501 – Injury/Incident Report Form
- 526 – Manual Handling Risk Assessment
- REGISTER – Injury/Incident Register
