Avoiding the costs and risks of manual handling with an elevator

More than a third of all work-related illnesses reported to the Health and Safety Administration or local authorities each year result from manual operations, such as carrying or supporting loads by hand or bodily force.
Most such accidents result in back injuries and result in an average of 17 days off work. In some cases, the person never recovers. This enormous human and economic cost is not just due to transporting heavy loads. Many injuries result from repetitive movements of light or difficult-to-use loads.
Cargoes can be as diverse as a box of goods, an animal, or a patient, and environments where injuries occur include anything from a factory, office, and hospital to a bank or construction site—even when making deliveries.

So what can you do to stop such costly accidents?

As part of managing the health and safety of your business, you must control the risks in your workplace. The first steps are to avoid manual handling (for example, does the object need to be moved or can the activity be done safely on site?) and good handling when lifting objects to minimize the risk of injury. The second step is to assess the risks in your workplace.

1. Good use – a visual guide
To encourage best practice in your workplace, follow these simple steps when educating people on safe handling.

2. Assessing risks in the workplace – considerations and considerations when performing a risk assessment

This process is known as a risk assessment and is something you must legally do. With some careful observation and evaluation of your employees’ workspace, you can decide whether manual processing is right for your daily environment. These can be divided into three parts:

2.1. Tasks completed by your employees: If they involve moving loads away from the body, carrying them long distances, lifting or bending stairs, bending over or reaching, you should evaluate whether these tasks could be completed better mechanically.

2.2. The loads your workers are expected to move need to be evaluated: If they are too hot, difficult to hold, or too heavy, and you need strenuous pushing and pulling, you may want to consider mechanical assistance to carry these loads.

2.3. Work environment: Maybe you need to move items across floors, which involves your staff constantly walking up and down stairs; this may cause slips, trips or falls. If there is poor lighting, a loud footfall in the area where your belongings need to be moved, or restricted space, then there is a better solution than hand-carrying and hauling loads up stairs or in crowded areas.

If the answer to most of these questions is yes, it is highly recommended that you consider installing a service elevator or freight elevator to help lighten the load, speed up productivity, and most importantly, make your workplace much safer for your employees.

You can contact us to learn more about the safe transportation of goods.