Sara Molinaro
Unit 27: Understanding health and safety in the workplace
Health and safety 1
Task 1 (p1)

Manual handling operation regulations 1992
The manual handling operation regulations of 1992 define it as any transporting or supporting of a load including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof by hand or by bodily force.In effect, any activity that requires an individual to lift, move or support a load will be classified as a manual handling task.
More than a third of all reportable injuries of over three days involve manual handling, and around 10% of major injuries are linked to manual handling. It has a major impact on all workplaces, and costs the economy hundreds of millions of pounds every year.In the UK, 1.1M people reported that they suffered from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused, or made worse, by work. It is estimates 12.3m working days are lost annually due to work relates MSDs.
Manual handling was the biggest cause of injury in the workplace in the plastics sector in 2009/10. Approximately 25% of all RIDDOR reportable injuries in the plastics sector were as a result of moving and handling. Within plastic industries manual handling is a common activity. Tasks range from filling hoppers with raw product through to moving finished plastic products or baled waste around. In industry it is not necessarily the weight of the product that can be an issue when carrying out manual handling; such as with large reels of film, it can also be the size and shape of the materials being handled that makes it difficult and hazardous.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 say in the first instance you should try and avoid manual handling tasks that could cause injury. Sometimes a small change in work practices or in the layout of your workplace can mean that some hazardous manual handling tasks can be stopped altogether.
In some plastic manufacturing companies where granulated polymers are used they choose to have granules bulk delivered into silos or other large containment units. The granules are then "sucked" into the process using a vacuum system. Having bulk deliveries rather than 25kg bags delivered can help to avoid manual handling as the operators no longer need to lift and slit bags into hoppers.
Where it isn’t possible to avoid manual handling you should then assess tasks that could cause injury (referred to as hazardous moving and handling tasks). The assessment should involve looking at the task, the individual, the load and the environment. The idea of the assessment is to identify ways in which the risk of hazardous manual handling tasks can be reduced. This can involve using lifting equipment to reduce the amount of lifting individuals do.
In business if manual handling is an issue and none of the staff where shown how to lift heavy objects the correct way a huge majority of them could be getting injured. Due to this people wouldn’t be able to come to work none of the jobs required to be completed will be done as quickly which would then give the company a bad name and will result in them losing business completely.
The manual handling regulations insure that the manager of any vintage inns are correctly trained because when delivery’s come in the mornings there’s a lot of lifting involved and because this is done twice a week boxes must be lifted correctly. Additionallyanybody new into the company becoming an assistant manager go through specific training to be taught how to lift correctly without being injured.
The reporting of diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations 1995
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) require employers and others to report accidents and some diseases that arise out of or in connection with work. These reports enable the enforcing authorities to identify where and how risks arise and to investigate serious accidents.

RIDDOR replaces five sets of previous Regulations. RIDDOR