HAZARDS AND INJURIES OF MANUAL HANDLING AND LIFTING
What are the Hazards and Possible Injuries of Manual Handling?
The term ‘manual handling’ is defined as the movement of a load by human effort alone. This effort may be applied directly or indirectly using a rope or a lever.
Manual handling may involve the transportation of the load or the direct support of the load including pushing, pulling, carrying, moving using bodily force and, of course, straightforward lifting. Back injuries due to the lifting of heavy loads is very common and several million working days are lost each year as a result of such injuries.
Typical hazards of manual handling include:
S lifting a load which is too heavy or too cumbersome resulting in back injury
S poor posture during lifting or poor lifting technique resulting in back injury
S dropping a load, resulting in foot injury
S lifting sharp-edged or hot loads resulting in hand injuries.
Injuries caused by manual handling
Manual handling operations can cause a wide range of acute and chronic injuries to workers. Acute injuries normally lead to sickness leave from work and a period of rest during which time the damage heals.
Chronic injuries build up over a long period of time and are usually irreversible producing illnesses such as arthritic and spinal disorders. There is considerable evidence to suggest that modern life styles, such as a lack of exercise and regular physical effort, have contributed to the long-term serious effects of these injuries.
The most common injuries associated with poor manual handling techniques are all musculoskeletal in nature and are:
S muscular sprains and strains – caused when a muscular tissue (or ligament or tendon) is stretched
beyond its normal capability leading to a weakening, bruising and painful inflammation of the area
affected. Such injuries normally occur in the back or in the arms and wrists
S back injuries – include injuries to the discs situated between the spinal vertebrae (i.e. bones) and can lead to a very painful prolapsed disc lesion (commonly known as a slipped disc). This type of injury can lead to other conditions known as lumbago and sciatica (where pain travels down the leg)
S trapped nerve – usually occurring in the back as a result of another injury but aggravated by manual
handling
S hernia – this is a rupture of the body cavity wall in the lower abdomen causing a protrusion of part of the intestine. This condition eventually requires surgery to repair the damage
S cuts, bruising and abrasions – caused by handling loads with unprotected sharp corners or edges
S fractures – normally of the feet due to the dropping of a load. Fractures of the hand also occur but are less common
S Work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs)
S rheumatism – this is a chronic disorder involving severe pain in the joints. It has many causes, one of which is believed to be the muscular strains induced by poor manual handling lifting technique.
Showing posts with label Safe System of Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safe System of Work. Show all posts
SAFE SYSTEM OF WORK - ADDRESSING ELECTRICAL SAFETY AND WORKPLACE SAFETY
SAFE SYSTEM OF WORK - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What is Safe System of Work? Basic Tutorials on Safe System of Work
What is a safe system of work?
A safe system of work has been defined as:
The integration of personnel, articles and substances in a laid out and considered method of working which takes proper account of the risks to employees and others who may be affected, such as visitors and contractors, and provides a formal framework to ensure that all of the steps necessary for safe working have been anticipated and implemented.
In simple terms, a safe system of work is a defined method for doing a job in a safe way. It takes account of all foreseeable hazards to health and safety and seeks to eliminate or minimize these. Safe systems of work are normally formal and documented, for example, in written operating procedures but, in some cases, they may be verbal.
The particular importance of safe systems of work stems from the recognition that most accidents are caused by a combination of factors (plant, substances, lack of training, supervision, etc.). Hence prevention must be based on an integral approach and not one which only deals with each factor in isolation.
The adoption of a safe system of work provides this integral approach because an effective safe system:
➤ is based on looking at the job as a whole
➤ starts from an analysis of all foreseeable hazards, e.g. physical, chemical, health;
➤ brings together all the necessary precautions, including design, physical precautions, training, monitoring, procedures and personal protective equipment.
It follows from this that the use of safe systems of work is in no way a replacement for other precautions, such as good equipment design, safe construction and the use of physical safeguards.
However, there are many situations where these will not give adequate protection in themselves, and then a carefully thought-out and properly implemented safe system of work is especially important.
The best example is maintenance and repair work, which will often involve as a fi rst stage dismantling the guard or breaking through the containment, which exists for the protection of the ordinary process operator. In some of these operations, a permit to work procedure will be the most appropriate type of safe system of work. The operations covered may be simple or complex, routine or unusual.
Whether the system is verbal or written, and whether the operation it covers is simple or complex, routine or unusual, the essential features are forethought and planning – to ensure that all foreseeable hazards are iidentified and controlled. In particular, this will involve scrutiny of:
➤ the sequence of operations to be carried out
➤ the equipment, plant, machinery and tools involved
➤ chemicals and other substances to which people might be exposed in the course of the work
➤ the people doing the work – their skill and experience
➤ foreseeable hazards (health, safety, environment), whether to the people doing the work or to others who might be affected by it
➤ practical precautions which, when adopted, will eliminate or minimize these hazards
➤ the training needs of those who will manage and operate under the procedure
➤ monitoring systems to ensure that the defi ned precautions are implemented effectively.
Assessment of what safe systems of work are required
Requirement
It is the responsibility of the management in each organization to ensure that its operations are assessed to determine where safe systems of work need to be developed. This assessment must, at the same time, decide the most appropriate form for the safe system, that is:
\➤ is a written procedure required?
➤ should the operation only be carried out under permit to work?
➤ is an informal system suffi cient?
Factors to be considered for safe systems of work
It is recognized that each organization must have the freedom to devise systems that match the risk potential of their operations and which are practicable in their situation.
However, they should take account of the following factors in making their decision:
➤ types of risk involved in the operation
➤ magnitude of the risk, including consideration of the worst foreseeable loss
➤ complexity of the operation
➤ past accident and loss experience
➤ requirements and recommendations of the relevant health and safety authorities
➤ the type of documentation needed
➤ resources required to implement the safe system of work (including training and monitoring).
What is Safe System of Work? Basic Tutorials on Safe System of Work
What is a safe system of work?
A safe system of work has been defined as:
The integration of personnel, articles and substances in a laid out and considered method of working which takes proper account of the risks to employees and others who may be affected, such as visitors and contractors, and provides a formal framework to ensure that all of the steps necessary for safe working have been anticipated and implemented.
In simple terms, a safe system of work is a defined method for doing a job in a safe way. It takes account of all foreseeable hazards to health and safety and seeks to eliminate or minimize these. Safe systems of work are normally formal and documented, for example, in written operating procedures but, in some cases, they may be verbal.
The particular importance of safe systems of work stems from the recognition that most accidents are caused by a combination of factors (plant, substances, lack of training, supervision, etc.). Hence prevention must be based on an integral approach and not one which only deals with each factor in isolation.
The adoption of a safe system of work provides this integral approach because an effective safe system:
➤ is based on looking at the job as a whole
➤ starts from an analysis of all foreseeable hazards, e.g. physical, chemical, health;
➤ brings together all the necessary precautions, including design, physical precautions, training, monitoring, procedures and personal protective equipment.
It follows from this that the use of safe systems of work is in no way a replacement for other precautions, such as good equipment design, safe construction and the use of physical safeguards.
However, there are many situations where these will not give adequate protection in themselves, and then a carefully thought-out and properly implemented safe system of work is especially important.
The best example is maintenance and repair work, which will often involve as a fi rst stage dismantling the guard or breaking through the containment, which exists for the protection of the ordinary process operator. In some of these operations, a permit to work procedure will be the most appropriate type of safe system of work. The operations covered may be simple or complex, routine or unusual.
Whether the system is verbal or written, and whether the operation it covers is simple or complex, routine or unusual, the essential features are forethought and planning – to ensure that all foreseeable hazards are iidentified and controlled. In particular, this will involve scrutiny of:
➤ the sequence of operations to be carried out
➤ the equipment, plant, machinery and tools involved
➤ chemicals and other substances to which people might be exposed in the course of the work
➤ the people doing the work – their skill and experience
➤ foreseeable hazards (health, safety, environment), whether to the people doing the work or to others who might be affected by it
➤ practical precautions which, when adopted, will eliminate or minimize these hazards
➤ the training needs of those who will manage and operate under the procedure
➤ monitoring systems to ensure that the defi ned precautions are implemented effectively.
Assessment of what safe systems of work are required
Requirement
It is the responsibility of the management in each organization to ensure that its operations are assessed to determine where safe systems of work need to be developed. This assessment must, at the same time, decide the most appropriate form for the safe system, that is:
\➤ is a written procedure required?
➤ should the operation only be carried out under permit to work?
➤ is an informal system suffi cient?
Factors to be considered for safe systems of work
It is recognized that each organization must have the freedom to devise systems that match the risk potential of their operations and which are practicable in their situation.
However, they should take account of the following factors in making their decision:
➤ types of risk involved in the operation
➤ magnitude of the risk, including consideration of the worst foreseeable loss
➤ complexity of the operation
➤ past accident and loss experience
➤ requirements and recommendations of the relevant health and safety authorities
➤ the type of documentation needed
➤ resources required to implement the safe system of work (including training and monitoring).
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