{Company Name} Manual Material Handling Policy

Definition:

Manual material handling (MMH) is the lifting, carrying or moving of materials or things, and may be accomplished either directly by one or more individuals, or using non-powered mechanical devices such as carts, hand trucks, and pallet jacks.

Application:

This policy applies to all {Company name} employees and contract workers, and outlines responsibilities for managers, supervisors and workers.

Policy:

{Company name} is committed to the health and safety of all employees. The purpose of this policy is to protect the health and safety of all {Company Name} employees by eliminating or minimizing the risk of injury caused by MMH.

Overexertion is a leading cause of work-related injuries, and MMH is a common source of these injuries. To prevent overexertion injuries caused by MMH, all jobs and work activities are reviewed as part of our hazard assessments to identify those that includeMMH.

The hazard assessment of each identified job and work activity considers a number of factors including:

  1. Physical demands of the work activity
  • Force: how much effort is required to move the load
  • Repetition: how often the effort or motion is done within a certain period of time
  • Duration: how long the worker is required to do the work activity
  • Work postures: posture(s) the worker has to assume to handle the load
  • Local contact stresses: contact between an object and worker
  1. Layout and condition of the work area or workstation
  • Working reaches
  • Working heights
  • Seating: type of seat and length time in seated position
  • Floor surfaces: slip resistance, grade, unevenness
  1. Characteristics of objects handled
  • Size and shape
  • Load condition and weight distribution
  • Containers, tool and equipment handles
  1. Environmental conditions
  2. Temperature
  3. Lighting Levels
  1. Characteristics of work organization
  • Work-recovery cycles
  • Task variability
  • Work rate

Based on risk assessment results, measures to eliminate or reduce the risk of injury caused by MMH will be considered based on the following order of questions:

1.Can the work activity be stopped (remove the hazard)?

2.Can the work activity be replaced with one that removes or minimizes the risk (substitution)?

3.Can equipment be used or altered to eliminate or minimize the risk (engineering)?

4.Can work procedures be changed to eliminate or minimize the risk (administrative measures)?

5.Can personal protective equipment be used to minimize the risk?

Responsibilities

  • Management will:
  • Ensure that MMHhazards are identified, risk assessments completed, and measures put in place to eliminate or minimize risk of injury.
  • Inform employees of the MMH hazards and how to protect themselves
  • Provide supervisors with the training and resources to identifyMMH hazards, assess risk of injury, and implement measures to eliminate or minimize risk.
  • Supervisors will:
  • Ensure that workers under their direct supervision know the MMH hazards, and have the necessary training and resources to protect themselves.
  • Promote the reporting of manual material handing hazards and associated factors that affect risk of injury.
  • Investigate reports of MMH hazards as soon as possible.
  • Work cooperatively with employees to evaluate risk of injury caused by MMHanddevelop measures to control risk.
  • Know the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations that apply to MMH.
  • Workers will:
  • Follow safe work procedures when performing MMH work activities.
  • Report to their supervisor or employer any job or work activity that they feel presents a risk of injury because of MMH.
  • Not carry out any work activity involving MMH that they have reasonable cause to believe will create an undue hazard to themselves or another person.