You need not be in a manual job to do manual tasks. Manual handling tasks can be delegated to you whatever role you hold in an organisation – for example you may be a receptionist who has been asked to move heavy boxes of files, or an administrative assistant moving deliveries of office supplies. Whatever the role you have your employer has a duty to protect you from risks to your health and safety.
Employer’s Duty
The duty of employers with regard to manual handling is enshrined within the Manual Handling Operations Regulations Act 1992 (amended in 2002). Going in depth into this legislation would take up this entire blog plus some, but the main point which can be taken from it are a hierarchy of control measures which an employer should follow when delegating manual handling tasks.
I will place this hierarchy of control measures into a scenario to illustrate how it works:
Joe Bloggs was asked to move 5 awkwardly shaped, heavy boxes – this could be potentially hazardous for Joe to move. The employers should firstly think of there is any way of changing the task so they do not have to be moved, or adapting the task to make it less hazardous – an example of this could be splitting the load so each box is lighter. If this is not possible the employers should assess the task and plan accordingly. Lastly, where practicable, the employer should provide mechanical assistance.
Aside from all of this Joe should have received manual handling training prior to completing any manual handling task.
If you have suffered an injury through a manual handling task and you feel that your employer has fallen short of the above standards, you may have a strong claim for personal injury.
What do you do next?
If you feel that you may have a claim then there are a few actions which you can take to protect your position:
- Report it to your employer – this can be important as your injury may need to be entered into an accident book. If your employer does not rectify your training or their policies regarding manual handling, when you have placed reasonable requests for them do to so, then you may wish to begin a grievance procedure against them.
- Seek medical assistance – not only can the medic assist you with your injuries, but they can also place a note in your medical records.
- Check for witnesses – witnesses can provide valuable evidence to a claim, so obtaining their contact details can be useful.
- Seek the advice of a personal injury lawyer – this should be done directly with a law firm as soon as possible whilst the events are fresh in your mind.
