The principles of good manual handling: achieving a consensus.

Presents the outcome of an exercise carried out to establish scientifically-based principles for manual handling training, both for conventional (two-handed, symmetrical) lifting and for ‘non-standard ‘ lifting, where the conventional technique is inapplicable. A core feature of the study was a ‘Delphi’ exercise, consulting with experts in a variety of disciplines relevant to manual handling training. 37 national and international experts were involved, a series of principles were identified on the basis of their comments, relating to conventional lifting. Presented in the report, these either supplement or refine those presented in the current version of “Manual handling: Manual Handling Operations 1992. Guidance on regulations. HSE Books, 1998 (L23). For each of the eleven principles proposed, explanatory sub-text is suggested, mirroring the current style in L23. A review of published literature relevant to the different lifting scenarios was examined to provide the basis for scientifically-supported principles in non-standard situations. The findings from this are used to present guidelines for each of the identified situations. These are intended to provide practical guidance to be applied in situations where conventional two-handed symmetrical lifting is not possible.