HEAVY LIFTING AT WORK

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2013 :: RMTnews 27 LEGAL More than a third of work-related accidents and injuries reported to the Health and Safety Executive are caused by manual handling – lifting, carrying, lowering, pushing and pulling. A number of regulations exist to protect employees from manual handling injuries such as back, shoulder and neck injuries. They include the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, which set out what employers must do to reduce the risk of injury, and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998 which ensure that lifting equipment is safe and safely used. In just about every working environment there will be a risk of injury from manual handling. It is not only a risk for work ers in manual jobs and heavy industries. However, many RMT are members expected to carry out regular lifting operations, including heavy lifting, and so are at particular risk. Employers and employees both have responsibilities under the manual handling operations regulations. Employers have a duty to: • Review working practices and eliminate any manual handling which is not absolutely necessary. • Carry out a risk assessment of all of the manual handling which cannot be eliminated and which may cause an injury. • Try to reduce the risk of injury from all essential manual handling as much as possible. Employees have a general duty to co- operate with their employer on health and safety matters, to follow guidelines provided and to ensure they use safety equipment provided and do not put others at risk. But they are also expected to tell their employer if they consider manual handling practices to be dangerous. The LOLER provisions encompass a wide definition of lifting equipment, ranging from heavy industrial equipment to the patient lift on a hospital ward. Lifting equipment is also subject to the requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). The LOLER regulations require that lifting equipment provided for use at work is: • Strong and stable enough for the particular use and marked to indicate safe working loads. • Positioned and installed to minimise any risks. • Used safely, ie the work is planned, organised and performed by competent people. • Subject to ongoing thorough examination and, where appropriate, inspection by competent people. Employers are subject to duties under the regulations in respect of any lifting equipment provided for use by employees and by third parties (though not members of the public). The obligations also apply to anyone else who has control over the lifting equipment such as someone who uses, supervises or manages the use of lifting equipment. Equipment provided by employees is also covered by LOLER. The regulations state that before lifting equipment (including accessories) is used for the first time, it is thoroughly examined. Equipment and accessories used for lifting people must also be examined at least every six months. Other lifting equipment must be examined at least annually or at intervals laid down in an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. All examination work should be performed by a competent person, who must submit a report to their employer to take the appropriate action. Equipment must be of “adequate strength” – that is adequacy not just in respect of the statutory safe working load (which must be marked on the equipment), but the actual load the equipment is expected to bear. There is also a mandatory duty on employers to ensure that equipment prevents users falling out or being crushed or struck. And they must ensure that the lifting operation is planned by a competent person, is supervised and safely carried out. Currently this is a strict liability, so if an injury results because of the failure to plan or supervise, that in itself is proof that the operation was not carried out safely. This means that in a claim for compensation, the employer cannot deny liability for the employee’s accident. However, the government’s efforts to remove strict liability from health and safety regulations may change that using an amendment in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill currently going through Parliament (see February RMT News) will, if successful, mean that injured workers will always have to prove that the accident was foreseeable and could have been prevented by the employer. HEAVY LIFTING AT WORK Andrew Hutson of Thompsons Solicitors explains the regulations designed to protect employees from injuries caused by heavy lifting at work