Workshops throughout the country to help workers

Thursday 27 September 2001

Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) and ACC released a new code today which will help New Zealander’s protect themselves when undertaking manual handling in the workplace.

The Code of Practice for Manual Handling was launched at the start of the ACC WorkSafe Expo in Auckland this morning and will be followed by a series of workshops around the country.

"Experts tell us the back pain has become one of the leading causes of work loss in industrialised countries," said Mr Bob Hill, General Manager, OSH.

"Apart from the effects on people and society, back claims represent an extremely high priority in terms of workplace injury costs.

"Premium payers spent $350 million on back claims in 1999 and of every dollar spent on work related claims, 35 cents goes on backs or, in other words, 35 percent of ACC work related payouts are spent on backs.

"The Code was developed as a joint project between OSH and ACC to further the Government’s injury prevention programme. It aims at the prevention of serious back injuries and complements the work by ACC on the management of acute low back pain."

Manual handling includes a wide range of activities such as:

• Packing in an apple shed or supermarket
• Lifting boxes from a conveyor to a pallet
• Cleaning tasks
• Operating machinery
• Construction tasks
• Using handtools
• Handling hospital patients

"Manual handling can result in, serious back injuries, musculoskeletal injuries and also acute injuries such as sprain and strains of muscles or tendons," said Mr Hill.

"Many musculoskeletal disorders are often caused by poor workplace or job design.

"Finding the healthiest and safest ways of doing tasks where objects must be handled can save people from harm and make work more flexible, effective and productive. The Code can also be used to analyse tasks so that they can be altered to allow a person with acute low back pain to get back to work promptly."