Here’s a scary couple of numbers for you:
- £8,623
- £6,000
… the former is the fine recently dished out to Oxfordshire Ales and the latter the costs awarded to HSE for bringing their successful prosecution of the brewer in October 2012. The reason? Failure to provide proper training and adequate conditions to allow safe handling of 25kg sacks of malt and barley. Here’s another scary statistic … the number of claims by employees for injuries caused by manual handling continues to rise, over 38% of work injuries are as a result of manual handling issues.
One of the duties of care imposed by the Manual Handling Regulations 1992 is for employers to provide suitable and sufficient training for employees who are required to undertake manual handling activities at work. Like other “compliance! training, such as Emergency First Aid at work, Manual Handling training is all about informing you and your staff of the risk and developing safe ways to work.
This can all be adequately covered in a three hour course that introduces employees to safe manual handling in the workplace and raise employee awareness of correct lifting techniques. A competent trainer will adapt the course to give relevant examples to you and your team, for instance dealing with kegs, cases of beers, sacks of spuds etc.
Aims And Objectives Of A Manual Handling Training Course
On completion of this “occupational health and safety training course”, delegates should be able to:
- Outline the hazards and risks associated with manual handling activities
- Outline measures to reduce the risks
- Demonstrate application of good posture and efficient movement principles in a range of scenarios
Who is the course intended for? In short you and all your staff who may be involved in lifting, pushing and pulling … think of all the tasks that your barstaff, your waiting and kitchen staff and your cleaners have to undertake and you will soon realise that the average pub is full of heavy, awkward to shift equipment, stock and furniture. So having a comprehensive training session for all members of staff essential and of course, once you and your staff are trained you can teach the elements to new members of staff as they are inducted into your business.
Course Content You Will Want To See Covered:
- Review of Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended)
- Spine and vertebrae structures
- Risk assessment
- Weight limits and guidelines
- Manual Handling Assessment Charts (MAC)
- Common back injuries and their causes
- Safe manual handling techniques, including lifting, pushing and pulling
- Employer/employee obligations
Did you know that …
- The failure to address moving & lifting issues in line with the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 is a criminal offence.
- Around 5 million working days are lost each year due to back pain (equivalent to 20,000 people being off work every year)
- The cost to your pub from losing a key operative can be very expensive, especially if it’s you
- Reducing accidents and injuries should result in less compensation claims and may even lead to lower insurance premiums
Most importantly, as a responsible employer, you must understand that all your employees have the right to return home in the same state of health that they arrived. For more details of the How To Run A Pub Boot Camps’ Manual Handling Course see the Training page on the website.