Problem
Suggest three necessary strategies the employer could implement to minimize the risk involved in the manual handling?
Connie and Vicky work 8 hour shifts in the kitchen section of an aged care facility that involves moving food trolleys to level 1 and 2 which includes stairs. They are required to do this up to 6 times over the shift using the lift. Currently the lift is out of order therefore Connie and Vicky are using a ramp to cart the food trolleys upstairs.
Connie has just been diagnosed with MSD (musculoskeletal disorder) of the back. Connie recently notified her health and safety representative that she was experiencing constant shoulder and back pain due to excessive force used to transfer the trolleys upstairs. Vicky is not suffering from any pain or injury but reported the same issue to the health and safety representative. The health and safety representative reported this information to the employer. The employer decided to look at all the tasks that Connie and Vicky perform, to see whether they involved hazardous manual handling. Both employees use similar strategies to do undertake this task, however still find it hard to use the ramp as it involves the extra force to push the trolleys.