Tag: risk analysis

Whether you work in a warehouse, on a construction site, or in an office setting, manual handling will likely play a role in your everyday tasks, which can often appear harmless. However, when moving or lifting heavy objects incorrectly, it can pose a serious risk of injury, catching many people off guard.

As a result, every year the HSE consistently reports handling, lifting and carrying as the second most common cause of injury, accounting for approximately 15-20% of non-fatal injuries. Emphasising the need for strong manual handling procedures in the workplace.

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What is Manual Handling?

Manual handling refers to any activity that involves transporting or supporting an object by hand or force. This includes lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, or carrying items – making anything from moving a box of supplies to shifting machinery components included, regardless of the action being aided or not.

In manufacturing and construction roles, this is particularly present with loads often being heavy and irregularly shaped. Whilst in office environments, the risk is often presented through repetitive lifting or carrying, potentially causing injury over time.

The most common risks associated with manual handling include:

• Long-term injuries – from repeated poor lifting techniques.
• Muscle strains and sprains – often caused by repetition or awkward movements.
• Fractures or dislocations – from slips and falls, or through dropping heavy loads.

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How to Improve Your Manual Handling Safety

As it’s often the case, the best way to prevent heavy lifting injuries is by avoiding the task entirely. However, this becomes unavoidable with necessary tasks. But whilst not every lift can be avoided, many injuries are preventable by following safe working practices. Introducing the correct training to staff, avoiding repetitive tasks when fatigued and minimising the need for manual handling where possible, with the correct aids provided when they are needed.

But for your necessary tasks, here’s what’s recommended to mitigate the hazards and improve your manual handling safety:

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1. Assess the Situation

When the situation arises, the first and most crucial step is to take a moment to assess the task. Looking for any way to simplify the movement and reduce the associated risks. That could mean splitting up the objects to reduce the weight and size or considering the shape of the load to make it easier to handle.

During this step, you should also be identifying any potential hazards, from uneven floors & wet surfaces to obstacles in your path that could make moving the object unsafe. Here you should also consider if you are confident in moving the load safely, particularly if it is heavy, you should look for assistance either mechanically or from another staff member.

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2. Preparing Ahead

With the risks identified, planning out your route and getting any aids is the next key step to safe manual handling. For your longer routes, check your route in advance, removing any trip hazards and avoiding any slippery or busy walkways, whilst making sure there is adequate lighting throughout. Make sure you know exactly where you are going and that the destination is ready and clear.

Then, if it’s necessary, gather any lifting aids you might require, from trolleys to straps and ask for the help of a colleague if the load is particularly heavy, awkward, or unevenly balanced. Breaking down any heavy or bulky items into smaller loads where possible, as multiple lighter trips help to reduce the chance of injury.

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3. Completing the Lift Safely

Now with all the preparation in place, carry out your plan in the safest way possible. Putting to use any mechanical aids to minimise stress through manual force. If lifting by hand, keep the load close to your body’s centre of gravity, maintaining a straight back by bending at the knees. Being sure to keep a strong grip, adjusting it if needed, avoiding any twisting while you are carrying the object.

Here, it is also important to keep holding time to a minimum, sticking to your planned route to get there safely and quickly, regularly setting the load down if you need to rest.

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Conclusion

The cost of manual handling injuries can go much further than just a few lost working days. Posing a threat to your organisation’s safety and causing long-term health problems. So be sure to invest in the relevant training of your staff and encourage the use of ergonomic lifting aids to keep your staff safe and aware of the risks. Further helping to build a positive safety culture in your organisation to maintain a safer workplace and upkeep your manual handling safety.

Schools are increasingly under pressure to do more with less. Whether it’s managing tight budgets, keeping up with the latest technology, or simply making sure classrooms are properly equipped, having a clear picture of what resources are available (and where they are) is more important than ever.

This is where asset management comes in. It might not be the most glamorous part of running a school, but it plays a critical role in keeping things running smoothly and making sure all your money is spent wisely.

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Knowing what you have (and where it is)

From laptops and tablets to lab equipment, textbooks, and even furniture, school buildings contain a lot of valuable items. Without a reliable system for tracking them, it’s easy for them to go missing or just sit unused in a cupboard somewhere.

An inventory tracking system helps schools keep tabs on what they own, where it’s located, and who’s responsible for it. It also makes it easier to spot if something has been lost, stolen, or needs replacing.

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Avoiding wasteful spending

If staff don’t know what’s already available, it is very easy to end up buying equipment that’s already sitting in storage somewhere. That’s money that could have gone towards other priorities like teaching supplies, maintenance, or new learning resources for students.

With a well-documented inventory, a school can make smarter purchasing decisions and stretch their budget further.

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Staying on top of maintenance

Some assets (e.g. science lab equipment, musical instruments, classroom projectors etc.) need regular upkeep to stay in a good condition. Keeping a frequent log of when items were last checked or serviced can help prevent them from unexpectedly breaking down. This will in turn make sure that everything is working properly when it’s needed.

Regular maintenance also helps you to plan ahead for replacements, so you’re not caught off guard when a set of computers all hit the end of their life at the same time, for example.

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Supporting teaching and learning

When classrooms are properly equipped and resources are easy to find, lessons run more smoothly. Teachers aren’t wasting time hunting for a missing charger or working around a broken projector, and students benefit from a more consistent and well-prepared learning environment.

Good asset management might not be visible to pupils, but it makes a difference to their experience.

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Preparing for audits and insurance claims

Schools are often required to report how they use public funds, especially when it comes to grants or funding tied to specific projects and equipment. Having a clear record of purchases and locations of your assets makes it much easier to meet those requirements.

Also, in the event of a fire, flood, or break in, an up-to-date digital asset register can be the difference between a straightforward insurance claim and a long, frustrating process.

What should you do next?

If you are not already centrally keeping a track of all your assets, you should:

1. Review regularly – An annual or termly audit can help to catch errors, identify missing items, and keep the system reliable over time.
2. Start small – Begin by tracking high-value items like laptops, tablets, and lab equipment. Once you have this in place, expand to include furniture, textbooks, and other learning resources.
3. Use digital tools – There are plenty of affordable asset management platforms like Smartlog available on the market. Smartlog even allows barcode and NFC scanning, and the digital asset register allows you to view and manage your inventory from anywhere in your school using just your phone.
4. Get staff on board – Everyone plays a part in keeping the inventory accurate, from teaching staff to the facilities team. A bit of training in your asset management procedure and a shared understanding of the process can go a long way.

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Conclusion

Schools aren’t warehouses, but they do contain and manage a huge number of valuable items. Having a clear, well-maintained asset management system isn’t just good practice, it’s essential. A great system will help you avoid unnecessary costs, keep classrooms running smoothly, and provide peace of mind for staff, governors, and parents alike.

If your school isn’t already tracking its assets properly, now is the time to start.

Risk assessments play a vital role in keeping your workplace safe and are an essential pillar of an effective health and safety strategy, whichever industry you are in. Identifying and managing your workplace risks regularly enables you to protect your employees by mitigating the hazards and supplying the necessary training, whilst also ensuring you remain compliant. However, many risk assessments fall short due to missing or skimming past some of the most crucial elements.

So, to help you strengthen your processes, here are five essential components every workplace risk assessment should include.

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1. Clear Identification of Hazards

The first step of any risk assessment is to thoroughly identify all the potential hazards across the workplace. This includes all physical, ergonomic, or long-term hazards, many which may not be immediately obvious. This creates a clear outlay of the risks, so that you can work towards a plan to mitigate them effectively.

During your assessments, you should also consider the impact of any changes occurring throughout your workday, including any lighting, weather, personnel or processes that may differ. Reviewing your incident reports regularly can also help reveal common health and safety risks and failings.

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2. Who is at risk?

When working towards achieving safer workplace practices, understanding who might be affected by each hazard is crucial in order to pinpoint how to best protect the individuals. This includes not only employees but also contractors, visitors, and even members of the public – depending on your workplace layout and operations.

This allows you to adjust the processes according to their level of experience and knowledge via a range of techniques, whether that be improving your staff training, moving staff around, or even changing the processes entirely. This also opens up the opportunity to spot developing patterns, thereby potentially preventing any individuals from being overexposed to hazards.

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3. Implementing Control Measures

With the vulnerabilities now identified, you must evaluate the level of risk each hazard presents and identify all existing control measures. Commonly this can be done through a rating system such as a risk matrix/register, to easily prioritise the most dangerous areas. Determine if the control measures are adequate or if further action is required to bolster your health and safety practices to reduce the risks.

In this step, it is also crucial to consider how hazards may overlap and interact with each other, as often long-term risks and fatigue can increase the chances of a health and safety failing.

When implementing mitigation techniques, it is important to remember the hierarchy of controls, providing a guide to the most effective strategies:

• Elimination – Removing the hazard completely
• Substitution – Replacing the process or hazard with a safer alternative
• Engineering Controls – Changing the systems to minimise risk exposure
• Administrative Controls – Changing practices to reduce the potential risk
• PPE – Directly protecting the individual from the risk

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4. Employee Involvement and Consultation

No one knows your workplace quite like your staff, as interacting with different parts of their working environment day in day out gives them a unique perspective and understanding of potential health and safety issues and concerns. Co-operating with your employees during a risk assessment is crucial to revealing the overall picture, helping you be aware of hazards that may have otherwise gone unnoticed whilst also enhancing your health and safety culture – making staff feel heard and valued.

During this step, it is also vital that you ensure all staff are up to date with the latest emergency plans and processes to verify their safety and others in the event of an emergency.

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5. Introducing a Review Schedule and Documenting

Finally, workplace risk assessments are not one-off exercises. They should be living documents, updated and reviewed whenever there are changes in procedures, equipment or personnel, with significant changes demanding a full re-assessment. With this in mind, scheduled review intervals are essential to upkeep a safe workplace. Depending on your working environment and the risks involved these timescales can fluctuate, being unique to your organisation, generally sitting between every quarter to biannual reviews

On top of a regular review cycle, make sure you are thoroughly documenting your finding. This is not only good practice, but it’s a legal requirement across the UK. A clear and structured record shows that the risk assessment was completed properly and outlines who is responsible for actions and their deadlines.

Documenting and scheduling reviews is often made easier through the use of standardised templates, helping your reviews to meet the same criteria. This can be further aided by risk assessment software to maintain consistency and keep within deadlines.

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Conclusion

Workplace risk assessments are a fundamental part of your health and safety management, but their requirements can be blurry, so completing them correctly is vital to ensure the safety of your work premises. By ensuring your assessment includes these five key elements, you will create a strong foundation for a safer and more compliant workplace. Whilst the inclusion of staff into your practices will improve your workplace’s safety culture, ultimately creating a much safer working environment for everyone.