Posted By Paul Leadbetter
Mark

Are you referring to 'limits' under the Manual Handling Regs? If so, there are none quoted in legislation although guidance values are quoted in the accompanying guidance.

Paul

Posted By Swis
Mark,

It is neither law, nor best practice. Establishing such limits can lead to incorrect conclusions and hence work related problems. This figure is taken from a guidance diagram from HSE for lowering and lifting (where 25kg is the maximum shown weight) and is often mistaken for the maximum carrying limit.

The “maximum load” will depend on your assessment which will be dependent upon;

1. The task
2. The Type of load
3. The working environment
4. Individual Capabilities
5. Other factors, such as PPE


Swis

Posted By Mark1983
Thanku for your reposnses everyone, the reason i ask was because last week i was carrying out a site visit & spotted a worker carrying 2 bags of cement at the same time. I had a quiet word with him & he wanted to know why he shouldn't since he's done it all his life and had no ill effects. I told him that back injury can be cumulative & take time to appear & that it was subject to our risk assessment which said 25 kg was the most to be lifted so he must only please carry one bag at a time.

Are we saying then that 25 kg i ok for him to lift so long as he can do it without difficulty and the risk assessment doesn't insist on it??

Posted By Raymond Rapp
The reality is that many people use the 25kg as a benchmark, rightly or wrongly. For the average fit male (if such a thing exists) 25kg would not be a problem if the weight was fairly evenly distributed.

Whilst it might seem sensible to do a risk assessment it is not normally practicable because loads come in shapes and sizes, as do people.

Posted By Kirsty Davies2
Think two bags of cement will be too much because of it's shape. I would stop this practice immedately.

Posted By Fornhelper
If you have provided the (sensible) advice already cited i.e. "lift what you are comfortable with and seek assistance / use lifting aids if you believe the load is too heavy", then I don't know how much more you can do.

We are all individuals and the weight we can lift will vary significantly depending on a number of factors - there are days I will carry my golf clubs (stayed in on Friday night!!) and other days when I use a golf trolley (went out on Friday night !!!).

Give staff the training, show them the techniques, provide information and instruction, provide lifting aids where necessary then, dare I say it, let them use their common sense and make a reasoned judgement, based on what they have been told, as to what they can and cannot lift.

We are all individuals we need to allow a bit of scope for the individual to make a decision.

Regards
FH

Posted By Pat Hannaway
The guideline figure of 25kg is based on repeated lifts of up to 30 operations per hour (See ACOP). It is not a legal maximum. For one off or occasional lifts this figure can be substantially increased.

A better method is to use the free HSE MAC tool.