Manual Handling vs Hazardous Manual Handling

What is manual handling?

• Manual: of or done with the hands, powered by the hands - from the old French manuel, from Latin manualis = hand.

• Handling: manipulation; management; treatment.

These definitions help give a full understanding of manual handling as "the manipulation, management or treatment of something, using the hands."

The official definition developed by Australian State and Territory Occupational Health & Safety Authorities states that manual handling is "any activity requiring the use of force exerted by a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any animate or inanimate object."

Manual tasks cover a wide range of activities including doing the shopping, mowing the lawn, stacking shelves or working on a production conveyor line. Some manual tasks if addressed incorrectly are hazardous and can cause musculoskeletal disorders.

What is a hazardous manual task?

A hazardous manual task, as defined in the WHS Regulations, means a task that requires a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any person, animal or thing involving:

• Repetitive or sustained movements,

• Postures or forces involving long duration.

• High or sudden force.

• Hand-arm or whole-body vibration.

Not all manual handling is hazardous. For example, a working person can have a hard day at work, go home tired but then wake up the next morning fitter and stronger than the morning before. This occurs when the worker has used correct manual handling techniques, is in a safe work environment and where workloads are managed by well-informed safety professionals. The objective of this worker is to become an "athlete in industry." This is in direct contrast to other workers who carry out their daily tasks with no thought of manual handling safety and end up getting injured and costing industry billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs each year.

www.backsafe.com.au