Is Manual Handling Training A Legal Requirement In Ireland?

By Author: johnnytorrt
Total Articles: 208
Comment this article

Manual handling at work is a health and safety issue. According to Irish Legislation, as an employer, you are responsible for ensuring the welfare, health and safety of your employees.

What is Manual Handling?

Manual handling is a term used for referring to physical activities that are a need in almost every workplace at one time or another. It is actually a workplace hazard and so you should take steps to safeguard your employees against the hazard. But, how to safeguard will be your question. The answer to this question is that you should take steps to provide them with a manual handling course online. Yes, what you have read just now is right. You can get your employees trained online from a reputed course provider in Ireland.

Handling and Moving Legislation:

The thing to remember as an employer is that manual handling need not essentially be a health hazard for your employees. But, if your office or factory involves the lifting of heavy objects regularly or rarely, it is important for you, as an employer, to establish manual handling guidelines for your employees. When you do this, you can bring ...
... down the risk of even a single employee to suffering injuries.

According to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Regulations 2007 manual handling denotes any labor tasks that involve supporting and transporting any load by one or more employees that encompasses moving, carrying, pulling, pushing, putting down or lifting a load. As all these activities denote manual handling at the workplace, they involve the risk of injury particularly back injury to people involved.

What are Your Responsibilities As An Employer?

There are some particular obligations you have as an employer and it is your responsibility to comply with them by putting the right moving and handling regulations at workplace. These are carrying out a risk assessment of tasks at the workplace to decide which of them can be reduced or avoided. To reduce the hazards to employees, is it possible to use mechanical devices for carrying out these tasks? Otherwise, the best option available is to enroll your employees in a online manual handling training.

Conclusion:

So, if you operate your business from Ireland, it is better to ensure that you enroll your employees in manual handling course online. When you do this, you can prevent legal actions taken by employees or their family members on your business for any injuries that your employees face during manual handling. When your employees take up this course, they can safely handle these tasks without injuring themselves and others.