Manual handling warning

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned employers to follow the Manual Handling Operations Regulations, after prosecuting a company over an incident in which a worker was injured by a 50kg sack of rice falling onto the back of his neck.

An investigation into the accident at East End Foods found that large consignments of the sacks were routinely offloaded manually from containers, without the use of any mechanical aids. To lift the sacks, workers were raised and lowered on a pallet placed on the forks of a forklift truck.

The company, which had not carried out a risk assessment for the activity, was fined £25,000 plus £28,000 costs last month.