The Manual Handling Operations Regulations (MHOR) set out duties to ensure safety for a wide range of manual handling activities, including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying. The load may be either animate, such as a person or an animal, or inanimate, such as a box or a trolley.
The main aim of MHOR is to prevent injury to any part of the body.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations (MHOR) make it a requirement for employers to manage the risks to their employees by:
Avoidance and reduction of the risk can be achieved by redesigning the task or working environment or introducing automation and/or mechanical assistance into the process.
Medical and scientific knowledge stress the importance of an ergonomic (i.e. comfort-based) approach that looks at manual handling in the workplace as a whole, taking into account the nature of the task, the load and the working environment, and requiring worker participation.