Toyota Manual Handling GuidecontentToyota Manual Handling Guide
Creating a culture of safety
www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk
MORE THAN A
THIRD OF ALL
INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENTS
EVERY YEAR
ARE CAUSED BY
HANDLING LOADS
Kinds of accidents causing injury*
Types of injury caused by handling accidents*
Falls - 4%
Other - 20%
Sprain / Strain - 69%
Trips - 23%
Superficial - 4%
Fracture - 4%
Laceration - 11%
Handling - 38%
Struck By - 15%
Contusion - 6%
Other - 6%
Sites of injury caused by handling accidents*
Other - 16%
Upper limb - 11%
Back - 47%
Hand - 6%
* Source. HSE.
Finger - 15%
Manual Handling
Operations Regulations, 2004
Lower limb - 5%
Manual handling:
not just hands
When you’re lifting, or stacking, or moving things about, you’re
not just using your hands. You’re using all the tools at your
disposal, all the muscles, joints and ligaments in your body.
People with manual handling tasks use these tools every day.
But like anything used frequently, these tools – these muscles,
joints and ligaments – get taken for granted. That’s when
accidents happen.
In fact, more than a third of all industrial accidents, every year,
are caused by handling loads. Just by pushing, pulling, or lifting.
Most of these injuries are strains – to back, arms, hands, fingers
– and sprains: to the wrist, the thumb, the ankle.
These accidents are often caused by lifting heavy things too
often, or twisting round to stack things at the side, or pulling
loads by the simple measure of bracing the back and giving a
good heave.
Many of these accidents can be prevented. They should be
prevented, in fact, because employers have the legal duty to
‘So far as is reasonably practical, avoid the need for their
employees to undertake any manual handling operations at
work which involve a risk to their being injured’*.
It is in employers’ legal interests to make sure their employees
are handling goods and loads safely.
It’s also in their economic interests. Millions of working hours
are lost every year through injury, and personal injury cases
and compensation packages can prove costly.
Employers could even boost productivity by training their
employees to handle loads properly, or by providing
materials handling equipment to aid them with the job.
Lifting something by hand is hard work; fortunately today’s
employer has solutions to lighten the load.
Keep it close to the body
The further away the load, the more
stress on your lower back. Holding a load
at arms length puts five times more
weight on your back than holding it close
to you. Keeping it close to your chest
makes you more stable – and the friction
of your clothes helps keep the weight
where you want it.
Get the file |
File: PDF | Download Here