【人工搬运】Manual Handling

阿傻

Manual Handling Injuries
Activities that involve lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, holding or restraining something, can cause manual handling injuries. They are usually strains and sprains to muscles and joints. Broken fingers and toes from dropped loads can also happen when handling loads.

Activities that involve repetitive and forceful movements can also cause manual handling injuries. These commonly effect the hands, arms and shoulders, and are characterized by discomfort or  persistent pain in muscles, tendons and other soft tissues. These injuries are often called Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) or Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).
Working in awkward or uncomfortable postures for long periods (such as working in a confined space) also contributes to these injuries.

WHAT CAUSES MANUAL HANDLING INJURIES?
Weight is not the only problem when it comes to handling loads. There are many other factors that can contribute to injury, such as:
•        Bending, stretching or twisting to reach loads, eg. pulling items out from under a work bench, or pulling steel bars from a high storage rack
•        Handling large and awkward loads, eg. large sheets of metal or glass
•        Handling loads that are difficult to grasp, eg. "bear hugging" gas cylinders onto welding units
•        Carrying loads over long distances or for long periods of time
•        Carrying loads in an area where floor surfaces are cluttered, uneven or slippery
•        Working in an uncomfortable position for a long time, eg. crouched or bent over to weld or grind at floor level
•        Working with your wrist, elbow or shoulder in an extreme position, eg. Using a pistol grip drill to drill downwards at a workbench
•        Applying a force repetitively, eg. using a hand tool to cut through a large number of metal straps.
HOW CAN MANUAL HANDLING INJURIES BE PREVENTED?
Wherever manual handling activity occurs, steps should be taken to prevent injury by a process of:
•        Hazard Identification
•        Risk Assessment
•        Risk Control

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
Does your workplace identify hazards that could result in manual handling injuries by :
• looking for manual handling hazards in your workplace and in the way the work is done?
This should be done in consultation with the employees involved and health and safety representatives.
• looking at your workplace injury records to see which jobs are associated with manual handling injuries?
You can assist in this process by reporting injuries and discomfort, and encouraging others to do the same.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Once you have identified hazards in your workplace you need to assess the risks involved.
Risk Assessment is done so that you can:
• Decide which are the most serious manual handling problems in your workplace that need to be tackled first, and
• Fully understand the risks that are causing manual handling injuries so you can decide the best way to reduce them.
Does your workplace assess the risks involved by finding out:
• how often is the handling done?
• how long does the handling last?
• how far does the load have to be moved?
• how big and heavy is the load?
• how many people do the job?
• what is the most likely injury from this job?
• what is the likelihood of a serious injury?
RISK CONTROL
Once you have assessed the risks, you need to implement controls (ie. changes) to reduce the risk of manual handling injury.
The best risk controls involve a combination of:
•        redesigning the job
•        modifying the workplace
•        providing mechanical handling equipment, and providing suitable training
Does your workplace implement controls to reduce the risk of manual handling injuries?
This not only involves reducing the weight or size of the load, but also reducing the other risk factors that contribute to injury, such as:
•        storing loads at waist height to reduce bending, stretching and twisting
•        providing trolleys, wheel sets or skates to handle large and awkward loads
•        modifying equipment to eliminate difficult lifts, eg. low profile MIG welding units eliminate the lifting of difficult gas cylinders
•        organizing the delivery and storage of materials to reduce the distance loads are carried
•        keeping floor surfaces clear and free of obstructions
Minimizing work in uncomfortable positions by:
•        planning the task so that work can be done at waist height, eg. doing assembly work on trestles or benches instead of the floor
•        providing adequate space
•        providing appropriate seating
•        providing tools that keep the wrist straight, eg. using a straight handled drill
•        using a power tool instead of a hand tool
Once controls have been implemented, you need to check that they:
•        are being used correctly
•        have solved the problem
•        are not causing further problems

土拔鼠

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