Posted By John Richardson Two of our employees work in one of our stores and they have been asked to lift various bags (weight between 22-27kg) from one pallet to another. This happens basically all day everyday, pallets are made up with various types and quantities of products to go to different production areas around the plant. There is no job rotation as nobody else in the warehouse is fit to lift the bags. Also, there are no regular breaks taken as such. The lads do have a morning break, lunch and an afternoon break. However, they could be lifting these heavy bags for a sustained period of time between breaks. They are concerned that they are being asked to lift too much. I have seen them carrying out the lifting and the bags are heavy. They have had manual handling training, their manager has asked them to carry out this work. Is this ok? i think the lads should be able to share the job so they have some lighter duties throughout the day and given more regular short breaks.

Posted By David Bannister John, your colleagues doing the manual handling should have been informed of the significant findings of the risk assessment for the task(s) and how their employer requires them to do the job so that their health is not affected. If no assessment has been done, avenues to explore are the Union, any other staff safety representative, the persons in the organisation who have responsibility for health and safety management, any HR personnel. As previously posted, the HSE have good materials on the risks associated with manual handling and how to control them.