Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Local authority circulars
To: Directors of Environmental Health/ Chief Environmental Health Officers of London, Metropolitan, District and Unitary Authorities and Chief Executives of County Councils.
For the attention of: Environmental Services /Trading Standards /Fire Authorities /Other
This circular gives advice to local authority enforcement officers
1 The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (MHO) came into force on 1 January 1993. This circular highlights the key issues for inspection and enforcement by local authority enforcement officers. Practical guidance on the regulations is given in the HSE booklet manual handling: guidance on regulations ISBN 0 11 886335 5.
2 The MHO Regulations implement the EC Directive on manual handling (90/269/EEC), one of the first series of individual Directives under the Frame Directive on health and safety (89/391/EEC).
3 These regulations seek to reduce the very large incidence of injury and ill-health arising from the manual handling of loads at work. More than 1 in 4 of all reportable injuries are caused by manual handling. These accidents do not include cumulative injuries, particularly to the back which can lead to physical implement or even permanent disablement.
4 The MHO Regulations place duties upon employers in respect of their own employees. Identical duties are placed on the self-employed in respect of their own safety.
5 The regulations do not impose duties on employers in relation to other persons, eg customers lifting goods within a DIY store. However HSW Act, s.3 and provisions of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 Regulations may be relevant in such cases.
6 The regulations have replaced a number of outdated statutory provisions on the manual handling of loads. One exception is OSRP Act, s.23 insofar as it relates to office holders (such as police officers) for whom the application of HSW legislation as a whole is under separate consideration. The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and its Scottish equivalent have been partially retained. Local Education Authorities (Education Authority in Scotland) will continue to exercise control in this area of enforcement.
7 The MHO Regulations apply to all work activities with the exception of those normally covered by Merchant Shipping legislation, for which the Department of Transport are separate provision. Thus the regulations apply fully to the Ministry of Defence, emergency services and offshore activities.
8 HSE has published extensive guidance on the regulations which is supplemented by a free booklet. In addition, HSC is strongly encouraging the preparation of more specific guidance where particular industries and sectors would find it helpful.
9 The approach to enforcement should initially be to provide advice and guidance, and to generally raise awareness, particularly where requirements are new and more prescriptive. The Lighten the Load campaign is the obvious initiative through which awareness can be raised and advice and assistance given to employers. It is important to ensure employers concentrate on the hierarchy described in para 16 of this circular and ensure that ergonomic aspects are considered and not merely the weights lifted. Emphasis should be placed on the action planned as a result of any assessment.
10 These regulations impose significant requirements not specifically covered in previous regulations. Action has rarely been taken under the general requirements of HSW Act. When readily avoidable unsafe practices are identified, enforcement officers should seek improvements. Where enforcement action is considered, it is advisable to seek advice from EMAS at an early stage.
11 It is anticipated that enforcement will be concentrated around reg. 4. Where an enforcement officer is considering proceedings solely for failing to make an assessment they should decide whether the employer has had sufficient time to carry out the task (under reg 4 (1) (b)).
12 The MHO Regulations are concerned with risk of injury from a manual handling operation by itself, and not with risks posed by loads which are intrinsically hazardous. They do not apply for example to risks of injury from toxic or corrosive which might contaminate or leak from loads being handled. Such risks are dealt with elsewhere, eg by the COSHH Regulations.
13 The regulations extend to the manual handling of people and animals.
14 The definition of 'manual handling operations' is broadly drawn: ' ..any transporters or supporting of a load (including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof) by hand or by bodily force'. Practical examples are given in the HSE guidance on the regulations. Manual handling implies that an attempt is being made to move a load. Therefore, if a girder being moved manually is dropped and fractures an employee's foot, it is a manual handling accident. If the girder is inadvertently knocked over and causes a similar injury this would not be due to manual handling.
15 An important exception is that a tool or machine being used for its normal purpose is not a load. Therefore chainsaws being unloaded from a vehicle would be regarded as a 'load' and subject to the MHO Regulations, but they would not be a 'load' in normal use.
16 Reg. 4 sets out a hierarchy of 3 measures:
(1) avoid manual handling operations which involve a risk of injury, so far as is reasonably practicable (reg - 4 (1) (a));
(2) assess all such operations which cannot be avoided, taking account of Schedule 1 (reg. 4(1)(b)(i)); and
(3) take steps to reduce the risk of injury during those operations to the lowest level reasonably practicable (reg. 4(1)(b)(ii)).
17 These measures do not stand in isolation. They follow on from the more general assessment required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, reg. 3.
18 If there is no evidence of risk of injury, reg. 4 has no effect and the employer has no duty. Deciding the presence and degree of risk will be a matter of judgement in each case. The regulations do not set out the steps employers must take to reduce the risks to their workers. The HSE guidance on the regulations includes some steps that employers will wish to consider in the light of the assessment, but it is up to employers to choose appropriate measures.
19 The assessment must be 'suitable and sufficient'. A 'generic' assessment is acceptable if it can legitimately draw together strands common to several operations or employees. For example, the unloading of a variety of materials on building sites and routine delivery to several separate locations might be best covered in a generic assessment.
20 The numerical guide-lines provided in Appendix 1 of the HSE guidance should help employers determine which operations carry a greater risk of injury and therefore require a more detailed assessment. The regulations however, set no weight limits and therefore the guidelines are not enforceable.
21 Schedule 1 of the regulations provides a list of the factors for which the employer must have regard and the questions to be considered, particularly when making a more detailed assessment of manual handling operations. Appendix 2 of the guidance to the Regulations gives an example of an Assessment Checklist which may be used. Clearly employers can devise their own checklists.
22 Most employers should be able to carry out their own assessments; where there are particularly complex manual handling operations it might be necessary to seek outside help, but as a general rule this should not be necessary.
23 The duty to make the assessment rests upon the employer; it cannot be passed to the employees concerned, eg by 'training them to make their own assessments'. However the employer's assessment might properly conclude that the steps to be taken to reduce the risk of injury should include training which enable employees to deal safely with the range of handling operations they are likely to have to carry out, perhaps without immediate supervision.
24 Logically the additional steps required by reg. 4 (1) (b) (iii) form part of the general risk reduction required by reg. 4 (1) (b) (ii). The provision of information about the weights of loads is singled out in the MHO Regulations only because it is mentioned very specifically in the EC Directive (Article 6). Loads will not always need to be marked with their weights; it will often be possible to provide sufficient information in other ways, eg through training. Moreover the provision should not be pursued to the exclusion of other steps which can be called for under reg 4(1)(b)(ii) and which might be more effective in reducing the risk of injury.
25 The employee's duty under reg. 5 extends only to a system of work properly provided. If employers do not fulfil their duty under reg. 4 (1) (b) (ii) , eg because the system of work is not 'appropriate', their employees are under no obligation to follow it. The provision should not be seen as a bar to well-intentioned Improvisation, eg in dealing with an emergency for which no prior provision could reasonably be made.
26 The employee's duty is in addition to that under reg. 12 of the MHSW Regulations which requires the use of machinery and equipment provided, such as handling aids, in accordance with the training and/or instruction given by the employer.