Metropolis Maintenance

Metropolis Maintenance Services will take all steps to avoid hazardous manual handling tasks where this is practical and reasonable.  Where this is not possible, we will assess who might be harmed from carrying out manual handling tasks with the aim of reducing the risks where they are identified.

For the purposes of this policy manual handling is defined as the transporting or supporting of a load, by one or more workers including lifting, pushing, pulling, and carrying or moving of a load by hand or body force.

This policy sets out what measures we will take to ensure safe manual handling in our workplace and the role and responsibilities we all share.  The person who will have overall responsibility for the implementation of this policy is Maria Papoutsou.

Risk assessment

Maria Papoutsou has been nominated as the person who will oversee the carrying out manual handling risk assessments in our workplace.  This person has undergone training in manual handling risk assessment techniques.  Where necessary she will appoint additional competent persons to assist in carrying out of our risk assessments.

If you undertake manual handling tasks we are committed to consulting you during the risk assessments in order to gain your views.  We believe your involvement in the process of assessing risks is vital to managing risks and your cooperation is very important.

Our manual handling risk assessments will be reviewed on a regular basis.  Reviews will occur if there is a change in the work we carry out, or some aspect makes our risk assessment invalid.  We will retain good and accurate records of all manual handling risk assessments.

Implementing improvements

Maria Papoutsou has been nominated as the person who has overall responsibility for dealing with problems arising from manual handling tasks.   We recognise that the process of undertaking risk assessments may require us to implement reasonable improvements.  We are committed to doing this.  You play an important role in helping to identify problems and are responsible for raising any concerns.  If you do this we will:

• Take all necessary steps to investigate the matter
• Implement any reasonable and practical improvements that might be required
• Keep all employees informed of the improvements.
• The aim of our risk assessments will be to avoid or reduce the manual handling work by:
• Re-arranging the task so that it does not involve handling loads where this is practical
• Avoiding unnecessary handling by improved organisation of work where this is practical
• Introducing automated systems, where possible, where this is practical
• Introducing mechanical aids where this is practical
• Improving the ergonomic design of work tasks to reduce strain on those undertaking handling tasks.

Information and training

Maria Papoutsou has been nominated as the person who will oversee the delivery of manual handling training in our workplace.   This person has undergone training in providing health and safety training.  Where necessary she will appoint additional competent persons to assist in carrying out manual handling training.

If you are required to perform manual handling tasks you will be provided with information and training so that you can carry out this work safely.  This training will include:

• The nature of manual handling hazards (i.e. situations that might cause injury or damage health) and associated risks (i.e. factors that increase the probability of something going wrong)
• The principles of safe lifting and handling
• An understanding of how to assess risks and decide the best way to carry out manual handling tasks
• Practical measures you can take to during manual handling tasks that will help to reduce the risks
• How to use any mechanical aids that have been provided to reduce the risks
• An understanding of any systems of work that we have implemented to ensure your health and safety during manual handling tasks
• An understanding of the requirement to report any problems relating to manual handling to a responsible person so that corrective measures can be taken.  This includes the nature of the problems you might encounter and who you should report to.

Managing health problems

Maria Papoutsou has been nominated as the person who has overall responsibility for monitoring health problems that might be associated with manual handling tasks.  This person has undergone training in managing sickness absence in general and sickness absence related to back pain in particular.  If you suffer a health problem, which you think might be related to undertaking manual handling tasks at work, we have in place specific procedures to help manage such problems and assist a rapid recovery.

Procedures for dealing with problems

Maria Papoutsou has been nominated as the person who has overall responsibility for dealing with problems arising from manual handling tasks.  All employees share a responsibility for participating in risk reduction exercises, such as risk assessments, and to report any concerns or problems as they arise.  If you raise a health and safety matter related to manual handling, the company will:

• Take all necessary steps to investigate the matter
• Implement any reasonable and practical improvements that might be required
• Keep all employees informed of the improvements.