Inspectors will be looking to make sure that both employers and workers know and understand the risks associated with manual handling, are planning the work adequately, and have implemented the right control measures to reduce the likelihood of injuries occurring.

As a guide, the HSE states within the Manual Handling Operations Regulations that manual handling operations must be:

• avoided wherever reasonably practicable
• risk assessed where these operations are unavoidable
• reduce the risk of injury to as low a level as is reasonably practicable, using appropriate control measures

Steps employers should take

1. Review your current manual handling arrangements to identify and remove any unnecessary tasks.
2. Make sure that suitable and sufficient manual handling risk assessments are in place.
3. Implement control measures and monitor their effectiveness.
4. Consult with and provide information, instruction, and training to workers so that they’re aware of correct manual handling techniques.

You can find out more details about the HSE’s inspection initiative on their website, here.

How Citation can help

If you’ve got any questions about how this newly-announced inspection activity might affect your business – and how we can support you in making sure you’ve covered all manual handling considerations on your site – you can call our Health & Safety team 24/7 on 0345 844 4848.