Safe Manual Handling: Have We Got It Wrong?

Over several decades there has been considerable effort by organisations to reduce manual handling injuries. The focus has been on redesigning lifting activities to whenever possible, use manual handling aids, such as lifting devices. When manual handling activities have required people to perform the lifting activity, emphasis has been placed on the correct and safest way to lift.

There’s a whole discipline around the problem of reducing manual handling injuries known as participatory ergonomics. Companies have spent countless hours training and implementing participatory ergonomics programs. However, recent research has questioned if all this effort has actually reduced manual handling injuries. The method of lifting when manually handling objects is once again under the spotlight.

For this article, we review a recent publication that provides a summary of lessons learned from companies that have implemented ergonomics programs to reduce musculoskeletal injuries, as a result of manual handling activities.