The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines manual handling as the transporting or supporting of a load, which includes lifting, putting down, carrying or moving. Not only does safe manual handling need to be considered in industries where lifting is the core activity, such as a storage or delivery business, it occurs in every working environment, and under Health and Safety law every employer must have carried out risk assessments to identify the likelihood of harm being caused to an employee from lifting activities and the procedures for employees to follow.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Recognise the risks associated with incorrect manual handling
• Describe the correct steps to take when lifting an object
• Safely use a handling aid