What are an employer’s responsibilities under the law?

Each employer must remove the need for employees to undertake hazardous manual handling activities as far as is reasonably practicable. When this is not reasonably practicable, steps must be introduced to reduce the risk as much as possible. To facilitate this a risk assessment must be written so that appropriate risk reductions measures can be implemented.

The employer also has the duty to, when possible, provide information about the load. This includes the total weight of each load and the heaviest side, if the centre of gravity is not positioned centrally.