Hazardous manual tasks

A manual task is any task that requires a person to push, pull, lift, lower, hold, carry or otherwise restrain any animal, person or object. Hazardous manual tasks are manual tasks that are at risk of causing harm to a person. Not all manual tasks are hazardous.

Hazardous manual tasks can be identified by the following characteristics:

• Repetitive or sustained force
• High or sudden force
• Repetitive movement
• Awkward or sustained postures
• Exposure to vibration

If one or more of these factors is present in a task then you could be at risk of an injury. The more of these factors that any one task contains, the higher the chance that the task will cause harm.

To manage the risk associated with hazardous manual tasks you should follow correct risk management processes and implement the recommendations outlined in the Hazardous Manual Task Code of Practice. According to this model code of practice, if a manual task contains a high force or heavy load then the risk must be assessed and controlled.