Manual Handling

A Modern Approach

Presenting

Safety and Facilities Manager

Pencarrie Ltd

Training Manager, Health and Safety

Consultant and Trainer

SSG Training and Consultancy

Overview

• The Size of the ‘Problem’

• The Journey

• Manual Handling Risk Assessment• L23

• Filters

• MAC

• Training

• Changing Culture

• Applying Ergonomics

• Applying Technology and Equipment Changes

The Size of the Problem

The Size of the Problem

The Size of the Problem

The Size of the Problem

• HSE state – 37% of all work related ill health = Musculoskeletal

• 8.9 million lost days (Labour Force Survey)

• Backlog of training

• Rapid growth of the business

• Initial assessment of our data

The Journey

The Journey

• Consultancy- The approach

• Application of L23

• Training

• Changing Culture

• The Ergonomic Approach

• Investment and Equipment

• Technology

Application of L23

The Approach to Assessing Manual Handling Risk

- Initial task and area based

brainstorming session

- Grouping the tasks

- Making the assessments

manageable

L23 – Flow Chart (Page 52)

Application of L23 Filters

MAC

- HSE MAC and VMAC tools

- https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/mac/

TILEO

OTHER

Training

Training

- A training program was set up to teach staff the basics

- Staff Engagement

- Focus

- Staff suggestions

- A lot of staff realised they didn’t actually know the

weight of the items they were lifting

Changing Culture

Changing CultureThe Barriers:

• Manual handling “just lifting a box”

• Personal interpretation of weight, height and risk

• Scale of the problem – is there actually a problem

• “It slows us down”

• Just fix manual handling

• Reluctance to assess• Size of problem

• Perceived issues with assessments

• Cost to fix the problems

Changing Culture

The Improvements:

- Improving manual handling improves performance

- There are financial gains from investing in MH

- Manual handing and ergonomic considerations

- Investment and commitment at all levels

- Communication

The Ergonomic Approach

The Physio

• Jude Jones was approached to undertake a site wide survey of our manual

handling tasks to give a base line risk review

• The report identified high risk tasks from an ergonomic viewpoint

• Assessments and actions where then carried out to achieve quick wins.

• Larger projects were able to commence after costings and trials were

completed

Investment and Equipment

Vacuum Lifters

Pre installation

• 1500- 2000 boxes

processed per day

• Multiple lost time injuries

• High levels of fatigue

• Low moral

Vacuum Lifters

Research and planning

• Initial trials were positive. Some trials were

successful and some less so

• Site visits helped prove that the equipment

could work in real life situations

• Hesitation and concern

Vacuum Lifters

Post installation

• Productivity increased – the initial thoughts of it slowing work down were

disproved

• Staff are less fatigued and since its installation this area has seen zero injuries

from handling boxes

• Staff can now process more boxes without rotation

• Moral has improved

• There have been no complaints about working in this area

The Conveyor System

• A big investment

• Boxes could often be handled multiple

times to get them from point a to b with

various methods of transport

• Standardisation

• Team members now only need to transport

the totes to collect the items required for the

orders

The Conveyor System• The system was designed with manual handling in mind

• Making our processes more streamlined and efficient

• This system gave us the opportunity to review how we processed orders

• Less time spent transporting orders around the site

• Improved pick up and drop off locations

• Improved order storage – on the conveyor rather than on the floor

• Improved packing stages

The Conveyor System

Equipment and PPE

The Technology

The Data

- Getting the right data

- Using the data

- Make sure its consistent

- Survey data

Assessment Tool

- The MAC tool upgraded

- Takes the whole ergonomic process

into account

- Clear and accurate scores

- Consistent

- Not affected by individual interpretation

or perceptions

Inserted Image

Image Source: reference all images used

Inserted Image

Image Source: reference all images used

Outcomes

The Future

The Future

- Maintaining staff and management engagement

- Communicate regularly with staff

- Keep manual handling training fresh and interactive. Relevant,

engaging toolbox talks are invaluable

- Keep monitoring and assessing

Manual Handling

A Modern Approach