The background 

Johnston Sweepers is a world leading manufacturer of outdoor cleaning equipment.  They have three factories in England producing a wide range of municipal and contractor cleaning vehicles weighing from 4 tonnes to over 18 tonnes.  The manufacturing process is labour intensive, with approximately 500 staff employed in manufacturing and servicing.

Manual handling accounts for almost half of Johnston Sweepers workplace injuries.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (amended 2002) define manual handling as the transporting or supporting of a load by hand or bodily force.  It includes lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving.  The regulations require an employer to:

• avoid the need for hazardous manual handling so far as is reasonably practicable
• assess and reduce the risk of manual handling.

To help them fulfil their legal obligations under the regulations, Johnston Sweepers have used overhead cranes and other assistive devices including trolleys to avoid the need for manual handling. They asked System Concepts to train all staff who may still be at risk in job specific manual handling and risk assessment.

What we did

We took a three step approach:

1. Observing the work carried out at the sites.  We took videos and photographs of employees performing a range of manual handling tasks and used them as examples of manual handling techniques (good and bad) during the training sessions. 

2. Training a group of staff in manual handling risk assessment including

• identifying the hazards associated with manual handling
• assessing the risks
• identifying control measures to reduce the risk to employees.
  

3. Training all employees in safe manual handling techniques.

Safe Manual Handling Techniques Training

Johnston Sweepers’ manufacturing process has a number of distinct areas and different tasks including;

• Welding
• spray painting
• general assembly
• electrical
• mechanical
• stores
• spare parts
• on road servicing team.
  

We held a workshop to teach the basic principles for safe manual handling.  Delegates then did practical exercises to try the techniques in the classroom before testing them for real on the shop floor.
Using area specific videos and photographs and an in-depth knowledge of the tasks, we tailored the training sessions for each area, showing safe lifting techniques for each different task.
At the end of the session delegates could:

• Understand basic anatomy
• Understand injury mechanisms
• Understand the dangers and risk factors associated with manual handling
• Confidently and competently apply manual handling techniques to their jobs.

The sessions also gave staff the confidence to raise manual handling problems with their managers and suggest potential solutions.

What the client said

Richard Cardwell, General Manager at the Sittingbourne site was pleased with the training, saying

An excellent presentation – kept audience fully engaged and involved.  It was nice to see a presentation tailored to real Johnston processes.

Amin Ferdosian, Health, Safety and Environment Advisor at the Dorking site agreed,

I was most impressed with the flexibility of the course providers. They tailored the delivery of the course around the individual group of workers who attended the session with minimal disruption to the company’s day to day activity.