Manual Handling

Manual Handling

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Manual handling injuries are amongst the most common injuries. ACC receives over 50,000 work-related claims for lifting, carrying and strain injuries each year. This safety talk will provide some tips to help avoid these unnecessary injuries.

What is a Manual Handling Injury?

Manual handling injuries can be caused immediately (acute such as broken

bones, cuts, sprains) or slowly over time by harming your musculoskeletal

system (bones and muscles) and the injury gets worse over time (chronic injury).

Manual handling techniques include the lift, push, pull motions or carrying

of objects. Workers can often assume awkward positions and unbalanced

postures, which can lead to soft tissue damage.

Common injuries with manual handling is strained or sprained muscle tissue and

/ or elbow joint, lower back pain. These types of injury mainly occur due to poor technique

or handling of items that are too heavy for the worker.