What is a hazardous manual task?
A hazardous manual task, as defined in the WHS Regulations, means a task that requires a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any person, animal or thing.
When does a Manual task become Hazardous?
A manual task becomes hazardous when one or more of the following risk factors are present:
- repetitive or sustained force
- high or sudden force
- repetitive movement
- sustained or awkward posture
- vibration
The above factors combined with a hazardous manual task will often lead to direct stress to the body and can then lead to an injury occurring.
When is it classified as REPETITIVE
Repetitive’ means that a movement or force is performed more than twice a minute and ‘sustained’ means a posture or force is held for more than 30 seconds at a time.