Posted By J Knight Hi Paul, I carry mine in a rucksack, but this still leaves a MH issue when I have to pick the thing up or put it in a luggage rack. One of the things we do is issue laptops which don't have drives; in effect they're large notebooks. This makes them very much lighter than conventional laptops, and the drives etc are in the docking station and can be used at base. Mine has an SD card reader so I can swap data, many of my colleagues use a USB dongle for the same purpose. In the end, do your M&HRA and take it from there; bear in mind that different people might need different solutions, for example some people might need little wheels on their bags, John

Posted By max Our team use little trolley cases as we freuently have the laptop & data projector too.

Posted By gham lifting a pay cheque

Posted By Brett Day A similar issue was brought up regarding school bags (by RoSPA IIRC) they were finding that the single handle and shoulder strap put all the weight on one side and it was affecting the spines as kids grew, am assuming that laptops potentially could be the same ?

Posted By Paul Durkin Hi All, Thanks for the responses,range from banal to good,seems a pity some respondants feel they have to vent their spleen when they have nothing useful to contribute(Daniel's point)The point made by Brett,re: poor design of school bags,was the very reason for my enquiry i.e. there has to be a better way to carry laptops than single strap bags!! Surely GOOD DESIGN should be part of our remit.NOT as in school bags good badging(i.e.Nike;Umbro;Donay;Chelsea !!!)Thanks Gilly,I will look at the Posturite site for sensible advice. Regards,Paul

Posted By J Knight Sorry all ye doubters, but I stick by my original comments. Most laptops are heavy, and employers do need to consider just how the lucky recipients are going to carry them. People do get musculo-skeletal injuries carrying uncomfortable and awkward bags, people exacerbate existing conditions as well, and I too doubt the sense of 'decdicated' laptop bags having only one handle. I have trecked through Nelson Lakes National Park in New Zealand carrying on my back everything I needed for eating, sleeping and so on for a week. The key point is that that was on my own time, at my own behest and for fun(?); I carry work stuff because I have to, John

Posted By Daniel Stonehouse With the greatest of respect to John and some others, having read the last few post it sounds as though people think that something needs to be in the region of 25 kg before it is a 'proper' manual handling issue. The fact you failed your manual handling course for refusing to lift something that you thought was too heavy for your own personal ability is another matter, and i agree totally that you should take this issue further. There are many people i work with that are absolutely 100% incapable of lifting 25 kg, and if the people that we are talking about are children then i fail to see how this is not a serious discussion. Anything that makes peoples working lives less harmful to their health needs to be investigated. As an aside, surely persons that have had back injuries in the past and are now back at work are entitled to a higher degree of protection from back strains than the average six foot four burly bolt lifter?