ation to the individual rather than the reverse.
It is the employer's responsibility to assess the risk of injury in any type of manual handling (Advice; Health; HSE 7; Stranks). This can be done with the employees representative, and usually just involves direct inspection and assessment of the lifting need and the risk of injury associated with it. The employer and the employee representative should be able to decide which means of lifting can be employed to minimize the risk of injury. Employees can often have valuable input from their own experience. In difficult situations, outside experts can be called in to assess the situation and give advice.
The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations of 1996 can help keep the employees up to date (HSE 7). It may be possible to do general assessments which apply to several employees, or it may be necessary to do individual assessments depending on how many people are involved in a particular manual handling task. It will be necessary to do an individual risk assessment for
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