Common physical hazards in the workplace

In most sectors, everyday work involves recurring physical activities, and posture can have a significant effect on physical strain. Take office-based work, for example. Spending long periods sitting in a poor, non-ergonomic posture can quickly lead to back pain, a stiff neck or headaches. Retail staff, meanwhile, may spend much of the day stocking shelves. Manual work that requires substantial physical effort and repeatedly places strain on the back or abdomen can become highly demanding over time. Joints may be affected, and chronic pain can develop. People can experience problems long before retirement age, potentially making it difficult or impossible to continue in the same job.

Lifting, Pulling and Pushing: Analysing Workload Objectively

A practical assessment of physical hazards involves several steps. The first is to establish the actual physical workload: are aids used, or does the employee have to rely on their own physical strength?

Five key indicators are used to determine the level of strain:

1. Duration or frequency
2. Mass to be moved
3. Speed of movement and, where applicable, accuracy
4. Posture
5. Conditions under which the work is performed (aids used: yes/no)

Each of these indicators is assigned a risk score ranging from 0 to 100.

The individual assessment also depends on each employee's personal circumstances and health history. Relevant factors include chronic physical conditions, sex and how accustomed the person is to demanding physical work. Some of this information can be gathered through an employee survey.

Calculating the risk scores

The score mentioned above must be calculated in several intermediate steps:

Mass to be moved + speed of movement + posture + working conditions

The sum of these four values is multiplied by the duration or frequency. The result gives the risk score for male employees. For female employees, the result is then multiplied by 1.3 to obtain the final score.

Calculating the mass to be moved

Some weight ranges depend heavily on physical capacity (these figures are shown in bold). There are also ranges in which the body should not be subjected to the load at all (the values are omitted here). The preceding table provides no further details for these ranges.

The following weight ranges apply to sliding loads (for example, goods transported on a conveyor belt):

Calculating the speed of movement

To calculate the speed of movement of the mass to be transported, you must also know the positioning accuracy. Use the following information as a guide:

If you are unsure whether the movement speed is below or above 0.8 m/s, use the following reference value: the average walking speed is around 1 m/s.

Calculating the posture score

To determine the risk score, consider the posture normally adopted during the work and therefore used most frequently. If a movement occurs only occasionally, it does not have a lasting effect on the risk score in the risk assessment.

Repetitive arm movements, such as stocking shelves, must also be considered in this assessment. Continuous use of the whole body is equivalent to a combination of regular bending and twisting.

Calculating the working conditions score

What conditions do employees face when performing their work? Are they exposed to circumstances beyond their control, independently of any personal physical limitations? These factors must be considered when assessing the working conditions.

If any one of the listed points applies, the corresponding value must be included in the working-conditions score.

Calculating the time weighting

You now know how the four relevant risk scores are calculated. The duration or frequency, also referred to as the time weighting, must now be considered.

For employees in refuse collection, the time weighting is calculated according to the total distance covered per day, whereas frequency is used as the basis for activities such as serving food or stocking shop shelves.