This NEW DVD features the manual handling task performed in 4 different industries:
- Office
- Warehouse
- Outdoors
- Factory
The DVD opens with a dramatic scene in each location, which leads to the main protagonist being injured. Once the opening clips have played, the trainer will select which industry to watch during that training session. Each industry section of the DVD will look at the following:
- How to prevent an injury
- How to assess the manual handling task
- What factors will affect the task including the load, the environment and the individual capability
- Correct positioning
- How to lift and lower the load effectively
- Pushing and pulling
Made in a cutting edge style, Watch your Back - Manual Handling in your Workplace brings health & safety DVDs into the 21st century.
Ideal for every company, this DVD will enable you to train your office, warehouse and factory staff without the need for further training aids.
The pack comes complete with 10 Watch Your Back Training Booklets. Also included on the disc is a Manual Handling Assessment Form PDF which can be printed off and used to conduct risk assessments as required.
Running time approx 15 minutes
All in all this is useful DVD which could be used to support any managers safety training across all employee roles.
Health and Safety at Work magazine
Correct lifting training 'can manage workplace risks'
While it is a "severe" issue in the workplace, the risk presented by manual handling can be managed through correct lifting training, an expert asserts.
Jo Stagg, the senior press officer at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa), claims injuries or illnesses caused by this can be expensive for companies.
She emphasises the importance of completing a manual handling risk assessment form for jobs where employees are required to move objects. This will ensure decisions can be made to minimise the dangers people are presented with at work and can help eliminate unnecessary lifting tasks, she asserts.
"Based on the outcome of the risk assessment, they are then able to make decisions about what action needs to be taken," she states.
Ms Stagg says manual handling training - which can come in forms including the Watch Your Back DVD or Watch Your Back Booklet - is an important resource for those occasions where manual handling cannot be avoided.
In order to try and tackle this issue, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently announced it would be working with the National Tyre Distributors Association and the British Tyre Manufacturers Association to raise awareness of correct lifting in the automotive industry.
They will run workshops throughout the first half of 2009 which will aim to improve correct lifting techniques among those engaging in tyre handling. Terry Aston, who in addition to his HSE position also chairs the Rubber Industry Advisory Committee, claims this practice often results in back and musculoskeletal injuries.
Ms Stagg claims the consequences of mismanaging correct lifting in the workplace include loss of time, a reduction in productivity and the risk of legal action being brought against them.
She states that during manual handling training, correct lifting techniques are taught which could help prevent injuries in the workplace.
"We know that musculo-skeletal disorders are the most common occupational illness in Britain and they actually affect about a million people a year," the Rospa representative states.
She continues: "That includes things like low back pain, joint injuries, repetitive strain injuries things like that are all under the general umbrella term of musculo-skeletal disorders or MSD."
"We do know it is a significant issue, as with most things in the work place those risks can be managed," she adds.
According to the HSE, there is no single way to lift an object safely, as the circumstances and environment in which these actions take place can affect which technique to use. It has issued advice on one method, the two-handed symmetrical approach, but a commercial Correct Lifting Poster could inform employees of safe practice.
The organisation also provides guidance on implementing the Manual Handling Operations at Work Regulations 1992, which affects how a firm should complete a manual handling risk assessment form accurately.
Within this, employers are advised to avoid those operations which could be hazardous and are obliged to assess the risk presented by those which must be performed. In addition, they are required to reduce any danger these tasks present "as far as reasonably practicable".
AD Jackson has paid an out-of-court settlement of £13,000 to Paul Plant after he was injured lifting a tarpaulin from a trailer, the Market Rasen Mail reports. He had not been provided with manual handling training and no manual handling risk assessment form had been completed for the operation.
The HSE has recently conducted inspections in the Bradford area and the county of Kent which have been examining businesses' compliance with manual handling regulations.
Its Common Approach to Kent Enterprise lead to the inspection of 338 premises across the region, with 86 firms receiving prohibition or improvement notices.
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