This article considers employers' duties to avoid, assess and reduce risks arising from manual handling and what practical steps organisations can take to protect employees.

Published: 23 September 2026
Authors: Rubina Zaidi

What is manual handling?

Manual handling operations arise in many sectors, including logistics, warehousing, retail, manufacturing, construction, healthcare and office environments. The activity need not involve lifting a load in a box; it can include moving a patient, pushing a trolley or roll cage or supporting an awkward item.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (the Regulations) define “manual handling operations” as transporting or supporting a load by hand or bodily force, including lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving it (regulation 2). A “load” includes any person, animal or object.

The Regulations concern operations which involve a risk of injury. Although manual handling is commonly associated with back injuries, “injury” is not confined to back injury. However, the definition excludes injury from a toxic or corrosive substance which has leaked or spilled from a load, is on its surface but has not leaked or spilled from it or is a constituent part of the load.

To whom do the Regulations apply?

The principal duties apply to employers in respect of their employees and to a “relevant self-employed person” in respect of themselves, as defined by regulation 2.

The Regulations sit within a wider health and safety framework. Depending on the circumstances, duties relating to manual handling may also arise under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (the Management Regulations), including the duty to conduct a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to health and safety.

Employers’ duties: avoid, assess, reduce

Regulation 4 establishes a three-stage hierarchy for controlling manual handling risks:

• employers must first avoid the need for employees to undertake manual handling operations which involve a risk of injury, so far as is reasonably practicable. Avoidance may involve eliminating the operation or changing or mechanising the process. Mechanisation can help, but introducing equipment such as forklift trucks may create different hazards which must also be assessed and controlled (see our article Operating forklift trucks: LOLER and the wider legal framework )
• where it is not reasonably practicable to avoid manual handling operations involving a risk of injury, employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment. It should address the actual operation rather than rely solely on generic assumptions. It must be reviewed if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in the operations, and amended where necessary
• employers must then take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to the lowest level reasonably practicable.

Regulation 4 also requires employers to take appropriate steps to provide affected employees with general indications and, where reasonably practicable, precise information about each load’s weight and the heaviest side of a load whose centre of gravity is not positioned centrally.

The assessment

Schedule 1 organises the assessment around five factors to which the employer must have regard: the task, the load, the working environment, individual capability and other factors. Questions which must be considered when making the assessment include:

• the task: whether it involves holding or manipulating a load away from the trunk; twisting, stooping, reaching upwards or another unsatisfactory posture or movement; excessive lifting, lowering or carrying distances; excessive pushing or pulling; risk of sudden movement; frequent or prolonged physical effort; insufficient rest; or a rate of work imposed by a process
• the load: whether it is heavy, bulky or unwieldy, difficult to grasp, unstable or has contents likely to shift, or is sharp, hot or otherwise potentially damaging
• the working environment: whether space constraints prevent good posture; floors are uneven, slippery or unstable; floor or work-surface levels vary; there are extremes of temperature or humidity; conditions cause ventilation problems or gusts of wind; or lighting is poor
• individual capability: whether the job requires unusual strength, height or other physical characteristics, creates a hazard for someone who might reasonably be considered pregnant or have a health problem, or requires special information or training for safe performance
• other factors: whether movement or posture is hindered by personal protective equipment or clothing.

Regulation 4(3) additionally requires particular regard to the employee’s physical suitability; clothing, footwear or other personal effects; knowledge and training; relevant findings under regulation 3 of the Management Regulations; whether the employee is in a group identified by the findings as being especially at risk; and relevant health-surveillance results.

The role of training

Information and training are important, but do not replace the regulation 4 hierarchy. Regulation 4(3) requires employers to have particular regard to employees’ knowledge and training. Schedule 1 also requires consideration of whether special information or training is needed for the job to be performed safely.

Training should be relevant to the work undertaken and cover the risks identified, the measures in place to control them and the use of aids. Employers should review whether further information or training is needed when operations change.

Employees’ duty

Regulation 5 requires each employee to make full and proper use of any system of work provided by their employer in compliance with regulation 4(1). In practice, employees should follow the system, use aids as instructed and report defects, changes or difficulties. This does not displace the employer’s duties.

Practical steps for organisations

• review operations to identify routine and non-routine manual handling operations, including deliveries, maintenance, cleaning, emergencies and tasks undertaken by temporary workers or contractors
• consult employees who perform the work and observe its conduct, including foreseeable variations and peak workloads
• apply the hierarchy by eliminating unnecessary handling, redesigning operations, using aids, and reducing remaining risks through workplace, organisational and procedural controls
• ensure assessments are task-specific and proportionate, appropriately documented and take account of workers who may be especially at risk
  ensure aids are suitable, available, maintained and properly used, that employees are trained in their use and that their introduction does not create additional risks
• provide information, instruction, training, supervision, and load information required by regulation 4
• review arrangements after incidents, reports of difficulties, changes to the task, workplace or workforce, or evidence that controls are ineffective.

Organisations may also use the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) risk filters to help identify low-risk operations and decide if a more detailed assessment is required. The HSE provides task-specific tools, including the MAC tool for lifting, carrying and team handling, the RAPP tool for pushing and pulling, and the ART tool for repetitive upper-limb tasks. It also provides checklists to help identify and assess high-risk operations.

The HSE confirms its tools are divided by task type and that some tasks may require more than one tool.

Key takeaway

The law does not prescribe specific weight limits for manual handling, and HSE’s filter values are guidelines rather than safe limits. Compliance requires employers to apply the regulation 4 hierarchy to the actual operations undertaken. Effective arrangements combine appropriate work design, suitable handling aids, task-specific assessments, employee involvement, relevant information and training, monitoring and timely review.

Useful links

• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
• HSE: Manual handling at work overview
• HSE L23: Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended), Guidance on Regulations (fourth edition)
• Simple manual handling risk filters - HSE
• Toolkit for assessing musculoskeletal disorders - HSE
• Full manual handling risk assessment: Examples of assessment checklists
• HSE: Manual handling assessment charts (MAC tool)
• HSE: Risk assessment of pushing and pulling (RAPP tool)
• HSE: Assessment of repetitive tasks (ART tool)