Handle with care - The Environment
- Julie North
- 56 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Manual handling risk assessment essentials - The Environment
It’s common to use the acronym TILE (task, individual, load and environment) as a framework for manual handling assessments. Over the next four weeks, we’ll share our tips for manual handling assessments using it. Week four is The Environment.
The assessment should consider environmental impacts on handling operations. You should ensure you include all areas that handlers travel through when being transported from one place to another.
To help decide on the degree of risk, a straightforward likelihood versus severity matrix or terms such as high, medium or low are usually sufficient, if clear definitions are used.
Observing handling operations and talking to workers will help you. Your risk assessment should consider:
Space: Does the space create posture constraints on workers? Low ceilings can impact a worker’s ability to achieve a good posture, and narrow aisles and walkways can increase twisting and can make it difficult to handle bulky loads.
Flooring: Poor flooring increases the risk of slips and trips while moving about. Slopes can increase the force which is needed to start a load moving (i.e. upward) or cause the handler to lose control of it when travelling downward and deep pile carpets can increase the force needed to push a load for its entire journey.
Temperature and humidity: Hot environments can increase sweating which can impact grip and vision and heat can make handlers tire more quickly. Cold environments can impact dexterity as blood flow is reduced and air flow can impact the effective working temperature making the environment feel colder. Working outdoors is highly likely to be affected by seasonal weather changes such as temperature, rain, humidity and wind.
Poor lighting: Low or dim lighting can impact handlers seeing loads, the route(s) they need to take and hazards such as steps. Poor lighting can also impact judgement on distances.
Our industrial ergonomics services include ergonomics and manual handling risk assessments of industrial workstations and tasks to identify and reduce ergonomic risks such as awkward postures, repetitive actions and excessive forces.
Our full guide to manual handling assessment series is available on our insights page.
If you would like any further information on any of our risk assessment services get in touch by clicking on the 'Get in touch' button.
