ABSTRACT
It has long been recognised that the manual handling of loads at work contributes significantly to the number of workplace injuries, with approximately a quarter of all reported accidents attributed to these activities. The majority of these injuries result in more than three days’ absence from work, almost half of the total being sprains or strains, often of the lower back, with other types of injury including cuts, bruises, fractures and amputations. Many of the injuries are of a cumulative nature rather than being attributable to any single handling incident.
