Handling
Page 5
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NEW initiative to reduce the igh number of manual handmg accidents has been ,unched with the publication of consultative document proaced by a Health and Safety ommission working party.
The main theme of the doculent, called Proposals for ealth and Safety Regulations rid Guidance, is advice on how encourage employers, man3ers and workers to make a iajor contribution to the safety f manual handling.
This guidance is accompanied y draft regulations, which 'ould provide a comprehensive amework to govern the manual andling of loads.
There has been an increase weir the last 20 years in reported 'juries caused by manual handrig accidents from 40,000 to lore than 70,000, says the doculent. Back injuries alone have een responsible for the loss of KJ million working days each sar since 1975. This is equivaInt to £50m a year.
Previous legislation had set iaximum weight limits, but this as proved inadequate because eople vary widely in strength rid size. The new approach uses action levels" to identify weight mges, he added.
The key provisions for the raft regulations are the prohiition of handling manually any oad likely to injure a worker beause of its weight, shape, size r lack of rigidity and the reuirement on employers to enire that they have safe systems fworkfor manual handling.