Reduce the risk of workplace accidents with material handling solutions from Advanced Handling

A new report which was released recently by Health and Safety Executive has shown that a staggering 31% of all fatal, serious injuries which caused the person who suffered them to have to take at least three days off of work sick as a consequence were caused directly by manual handling.

A further 30% of accidents were the result of people slipping, tripping and falling in the work place, while 9% were caused by falls from a height.  These categories are the first, second and fourth largest categories in the HSE’s statistics.

Worryingly, these accidents and injuries impacted in over 80,000 people’s lives as a result.  In addition to the people directly affected by the accidents in the work place, thousands more people such as family members, friends colleagues and business owners will have been affected by the accidents too.

These figures make for some worrying reading, and once again reinforce the absolute importance in undertaking the right health and safety practices in the work place.  These include thoroughly training your staff on how to use your material handling solutions  and lifting solutions correctly, such as electric stackers, mobile scissor lifts, and mezzanine lifts.

For some people, it may be somewhat tempting to be complacent about the very real risks of accidents in the workplace caused by manual handling. Many business owners are somewhat unaware of the increased risks of having accidents in the categories mentioned previously, and have an ‘it won’t happen here’ attitude.

In many cases one of the simplest ways of reducing the risk of people having accidents or injuries is by removing the potential cause. In this instance, the main risk posed to people is manual handling. By providing your workforce with the right materials handling equipment, it eliminates the need to manually move the heavy loads. 

This has not only been shown to reduce the likelihood of one of your employees experiencing an accident due to manual handling, but also help to eliminate the risk of tripping and falling too- as many people experience these trips, slips and falls as a result of climbing onto ladders for example to move goods.

Furthermore, once you have purchased the right manual handling equipment for your factory, warehouse or any other work environment it’s vital to train your staff how to use them correctly.  When training your staff on how to use your lifting solutions and materials handling equipment it’s imperative that the training they receive meets the strict guidelines outlined by the HSE. 

If you need some help training your staff properly on how to use your manual handling equipment why not ask a professional to do the job for you. When you hire an expert in providing people with training on operating manual handling equipment you know that these stringent guidelines will be met. It also ensures that your staff receive the highest quality training, so that the risk of accidents in your workplace is reduced to an absolute minimum.

Advanced Handling are pleased to announce that they are now able to offer after sales training packages for your staff, including how to train your management team to make sure that all staff are following the correct safety procedures.

If you are interested in purchasing some materials handling equipment to remove the need for manual handling, or you require some expert training on how to use your equipment please visit http://www.advancedhandling.co.uk.

About us: Advanced Handling specialise in scissor lift design and make mobile scissor lifts, electric stackers, scissor tables and materials handling equipment as well as other various lifting solutions.  They’re also knowledgeable on manual handling legislation, health and safety at work and LOLER.