The application of published risk assessment tools for a manual handling carrying activity at the screening level

Abstract

The study commences with an understanding of manual handling and ergonomic occupational risks, as well as looking into the costs and consequences of the said risks. Detail is provided on the manual handling activity being studied and on the employer's operation. The name of the employer has purposefully not been disclosed, in this study. Relevant legislative requirements associated with the study have been referenced throughout the literature. The study is concerned with the application, usability and effectiveness of two specific manual handling risk assessment tools at the screening level the activity of carrying. The structured and pre-calculated designs of the Manual Handling Assessment Charts (MAC) and the Key-Item-Method for Lifting/Holding/Carrying (KIM-LHC) are the tools' primary advantage, as they allow non-ergonomic specialists to apply the tools easily to a good number of work situations successfully. The tools do not need exact measurements, since their design has been structured on pre-determined and validated calculations which in turn are based on industry averages. However, a lot of the advantages of these tools may possibly be considered the tolls' main shortcomings to not qualifying full risk assessment. The sole purpose of these screening tools are to identify whether the manual handling activity requires a full risk assessment as per the requirements of LN 35 of 2003.