Hazard Management Plans

As part of an effective risk management program, it is necessary to develop an implementation plan for conducting regular hazard identifications and assessment inspections.

During these inspections apart from the obvious structural or mechanical hazards that you may identify, you should also be on the look out for unsafe work practices.

Areas to consider are;
Manual handling

Dealing with hazardous chemicals
Storage and maintenance of equipment
Emergency procedures

Manual Handling

Manual handling is a major occupational health and safety concern in a majority of retail stores. The National Standard for Manual Handling and National Code of Practice will assist you to implement effective manual handling programs in your workplace.

Most daily activities contain some manual handling component. Activities that may lead to back injury are:

lifting and lowering loads
carrying, stacking, pushing, pulling, rolling, sliding and wheeling loads
operating levers and other mechanical devices
maintaining an unbalanced posture while performing these tasks.

You should encourage all team members to use the safe manual handling techniques, mechanical aids, or team lifting procedures.

Risk factors that contribute to the possibility of manual handling injuries include:

twisting or bending sideways
pulling, pushing or lifting in an awkward way
a poor match between the layout or working height to employee's size and height
prolonged or frequent over stretching of limbs
working above shoulder height for extended periods of time
limited breaks from the task - breaks should occur for at least five minutes every hour, more if it's very heavy work
stretching and/or holding the object away from your body
slippery and uneven floors
no mechanical lifting devices available
no training in the correct way to lift

If it's not possible to avoid these situations you need to consider if the workflow can be rearranged or modified to reduce the risk of injury.

Injuries can occur if correct manual handling techniques and equipment are not used.

Managing Manual Handling Hazards

To manage the manual handling functions in your store you should develop a clear policy based on relevant OHS information. From this policy the OHS committee will develop an information and/or training program.

Your manual handling program should identify how you are going to achieve the objectives of the National Standard for Manual Handling and the National Code of Practice.
Generally, successful programs:

involve consultation with employees
are based on a risk identification process
include commitment and training at all levels of the organisation
involve practice by employees under a trainer's supervision
involve continuous feedback from employees after implementation.

Establish Procedures for Manual Handling

A majority of workplace accidents occur due to poor manual handling procedures being employed by team members.
An improvement in OHS standards could be achieved by implementing correct manual handling techniques.

Manual handling procedure should include all workplace practices and equipment associated with the tasks.

As previously stated, your store's OHS policies should be based on the relevant OHS legislation. By using the legislation as a guide and adopting the National Standard for Manual Handling you have a good platform to develop your store's manual handling policy and associated procedures.

The Manual Handling Training Program

Manual handling training is usually more effective when it's done in the person's work area rather than in a classroom. This allows you to demonstrate the skills, observe the participants' actions and guide them through the risk identification and assessment procedures in a realistic setting.

The manual handling program strategy should include:

details of the consultation methods to be used
a plan to identify, assess and control manual handling risks, including the specific responsibilities of management, the safety committee and all employees
a training program for all employees
an ongoing review and evaluation of the program
Documentation of the implementation of the National Standard for Manual Handling, maintained in a central location and available to everyone

The primary objective should be to train the team in correct methods. This training should be undertaken when the hazard cannot be eliminated or reduced in any way.

A manual handling training program should aim to identify, assess and control manual handling risks.

The National Code of Practice specifies that manual handling training should include:

an increased awareness and understanding of the manual handling activities
hazard identification, workplace assessment and risk control by job and task design
promotion and use of preferred manual handling techniques.

Your manual handling training program should meet the specific needs of your store and include relevant information on legislation, hazard identification, assessment and control.

A manual handling program should provide the team with the skills and knowledge they need to minimise workplace risk.

Your manual handling training program should include the:

magnitude and scope of the problem
risks to health and safety that poor manual handling presents
risk factors associated with manual handling injuries
control measures focusing on work organisation, job and task design
safe manual handling techniques
using mechanical-handling aids and personal protective equipment
responsibilities of all the personnel involved in manual handling

When developing the program content consider the following:

training should be based on the principles of safe manual handling not a particular technique to lift
the principles must be adaptable to a variety of situations
'why' it is important, is just as critical as teaching 'how'