In Australia, hazardous manual tasks remain the leading cause of workplace injuries. Body Stressing accounts for 36% of recorded injuries, followed by 22% of injuries being caused by falls, slips and trips. These are often caused by a combination of complex factors, such as poor equipment, poor workplace layout, uneven, sloping / slippery surfaces, spills and a workforce that is rushing. (Safe Work Australia, 2023).

Organisations are increasingly recognizing the need for effective strategies to mitigate these risks and are constantly looking to better and easier ways of understanding the complex causes of body stressing injuries.

 

What is a Hazardous Manual Task?

Let’s start with the definition for a Hazard:

A potential source of harm.

And the following is often a definition used to describe a Manual Task:

Any physical activity involving the use of the body,

such as lifting, pushing, pulling, carrying, or holding objects.

A manual task becomes ‘hazardous’ when repetitive movements, awkward postures, forces, vibrations and sustained positions for long periods of time are involved.  And let’s add the layer of psychosocial workplace and individual factors that exist in any workplace that gives rise to a heightened individual stress response, increasing fatigue and reducing internal tolerance. (Oakman and McDonald, 2019)

All of these factors can pose a risk. To effectively identify hazardous manual tasks, a comprehensive risk assessment is a MUST (Buckle & Devereux, 2002).  Most businesses struggle to understand the complexity of reducing risks associated with hazardous manual tasks.  They are also looking for solutions with maximum reduction in risk, and minimum interruption to operations.

 

Why should a Business conduct Manual Task Risk Assessments?

Conducting a risk assessment offers numerous benefits:

  1. Identifying Hazards: Pinpoints potential risks in the workplace (ISO 45001:2018).
  2. Improving Safety: Enhances employee safety by implementing measures to mitigate risks (Hale & Hovden, 2015).
  3. Compliance: Ensures adherence to legal requirements, avoiding penalties (Safe Work Australia, 2023).
  4. Informed Decision-Making: Provides data to support safety policies and resource allocation (Tucker & Smith, 2004).
  5. Prioritizing Risks: Enables focused action on the most critical issues.
  6. Enhancing Productivity: Reduces workplace incidents, leading to less downtime (Gibb & Smith, 2007).
  7. Fostering a Safety Culture: Promotes a proactive approach to workplace safety.
  8. Continuous Improvement: Establishes a framework for ongoing safety evaluation.
  9. Employee Engagement: Involves employees in the safety process, enhancing awareness and commitment (Dahl & Løvseth, 2020).
  10. Protecting Reputation: Demonstrates a commitment to safety, enhancing organisational reputation.

Overall, risk assessments are a critical component of effective