Manual Handling Regulation

The German Load Handling Ordinance – Lastenhandhabungsverordnung, LasthandhabV for short – dates from 1996 and transposes European Directive 90/269/EEC into German law. The same directive underlies the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 in Great Britain. The ordinance applies to manual handling of loads that involves a risk to employees’ health, in particular to the lumbar spine.

Manual handling is defined broadly: any transporting or supporting of a load by human effort – lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying and moving.

The ordinance is short and follows a clear logic. First, the employer has to avoid manual handling that endangers health by organisational measures or suitable work equipment – mechanical equipment in particular. Only where that is not possible does the second stage apply: assess the working conditions and keep the risk as low as possible.

The order is not a recommendation. Leaving an avoidable load in place and instructing staff instead does not satisfy the ordinance.

The annex to the ordinance lists the characteristics that go into the assessment. They concern three areas.

The ordinance deliberately states no limit value. A number would not do justice to the problem: ten kilograms held away from the body above shoulder height a hundred times an hour are more critical than twenty-five kilograms close to the body at hip height twice a day. The assessment has to consider all characteristics together.

The usual tool for this is the key indicator methods of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). They are not mandatory but are recognised as a practical procedure.

When assigning tasks, the physical capability of employees has to be taken into account. They also have to be instructed: in correct handling and in the risks they face if it is done incorrectly. The assessment itself is part of the risk assessment under the German Occupational Safety and Health Act and has to be documented and updated when conditions change.