Employers are required to assess the health and safety risks that their employees face and to reduce these risks to an acceptable level. We Universal engineering are the supreme supplier of Lifting beams especially spreader beams, Lifting slings and shackles , crane lifting and other hook lifting equipments all over Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE. As the consultant in Middle Eastern countries, we mainly focus on tip toe solutions on your lifting equipment needs.
Precisely, an effective risk assessment should comprise the steps are given below:
Identify hazards and those at risk
Think about the work that is done and identify what may cause or increase the risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders. Involve the employees in this process. With respect to lifting operations and lifting equipment the risk assessment should focus on the risk factors that have been described before. Think about everyone who may be hurt by each hazard. This means not just employees, but also contractors, self-employed persons, and members of the public. Specific attention should be paid to young and older workers. Consider the causes of the identified hazards.
Evaluate and prioritize the risks
Evaluate the risk for each hazard, which means calculating the probability of harm to occur and how severe the health effect may be. Prioritize the risks based on the exposure, the probability and the severity of the effect.
Decide on preventive action
If health risks do exist develop a plan of action for risk reduction. Check whether the hazard can be removed completely, whether the risk can be controlled, if protective measures can be taken to protect the whole workforce or if personal protective equipment is needed to protect workers if a risk that cannot be adequately controlled by collective preventive measures.
Take action
Prioritize preventive and protective measures and specify short and long term actions. Specifying who does what and when, when a task is to be completed and the means allocated to implement the measures.
Monitor the risks, and review preventive measures.
Evaluate, on a regular basis, to see if the risk has been reduced to an acceptable level and if new risks have emerged. Decide if further action should be taken.
Specific tools are available for risk assessment at constructions sites, of manual handling .
Health and safety should be designed into constructions, before, during and after the building phase. Architects should be made aware of the potential hazards of their design and improvements that can be made by avoiding the need for manual handling. Contractors, clients, and suppliers can encourage good practice standards to be fully implemented. The risks to construction workers can be avoided before work starts on site by:
· putting in place a purchasing policy for machinery and work equipment, for example, buying equipment that meets the essential health and safety requirements (CE-mark)
· setting health and safety requirements in tender specifications (meeting national legislation as a minimum)
· planning the work process to minimize the number of workers who could be harmed
· starting control activities before getting to site, e.g. by planning, training, site induction and maintenance activities
· ensuring all persons, including managers, are trained and able to carry out their work without risk to the safety or health of themselves or other workers. The drivers and operators of vehicles and earth-moving or materials-handling equipment should be trained and physically fit.
Risk reduction of manual lifting
The minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads are given by the European Union Directive 90/269/EEC[11], which is transposed into law in all EU Member States. The directive requires employers to use the appropriate means to:
· Avoid the need for manual handling of loads by workers;
· Take the appropriate organizational measures to reduce the risk if manual handling cannot be avoided;
· Ensure that workers receive adequate information on the weight of a load, the center of gravity or the heaviest side when a package is unevenly loaded; and
· Ensure proper training and precise information on how to handle loads correctly.
In practice, the following prevention measures can be taken :
· Risk elimination — consider whether manual lifting operations can be avoided, for example by using powered or mechanical handling equipment. The use of a crane on site enables it to be always available for use, such as taking delivery of materials.
· Risk reduction by technical measures: if manual lifting cannot be avoided, consider if lifting loads can be reduced, e.g. by using light materials or supplying materials in smaller bags? If that is not the case consider if lifting equipment can be used and which device would be preferable with respect to safety and health aspects and costs. Ensure that the lifting equipment is ergonomically well designed and well maintained.
· Risk reduction by workplace measures: improve workplace conditions to reduce the risk, e.g. by planning the storage of building material close to the place where it is being processed and by keeping the work site clean and without obstacles to reduce the risk of slip injuries during manual handling. Ensure that materials that need to be lifted manually are positioned in a way that limited bending or reaching is needed.
· Risk reduction by organisational measures such as reducing the physical task demands such as frequency and duration of manual lifting operations, e.g. by introducing job rotation and the introduction of breaks.
· Inform the workers to increase their awareness of risk factors present, how to recognize and avoid unsafe working conditions and the consequences of not avoiding them. Furthermore, workers have to be trained in using the safe and healthy working methods.
Requirements when using lifting equipment
The employer is responsible for ensuring that lifting operations within his scope of work are carried out safely and must identify one person to be in control of the lifting operation. The employer shall ensure that every lifting operation involving lifting equipment/accessories is properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner. To ensure this, he should:
· nominate a competent person who is suitably trained and experienced to ensure safe lifting operations
· provide adequate resources to enable lifting operations to be carried out safely
· ensure that all appointees i.e. supervisors, crane operators and operatives with duties under this procedure are properly trained, licensed, competent and aware of those duties
· confirm by regular monitoring that lifting procedures are being properly implemented.
At the corporate level, a safety culture should be promoted which involves a high stakeholder commitment to identify and control occupational risk factors and improve safety and surveillance measures. Hours of work must be controlled. Using lifting equipment safely requires concentration and long hours make this difficult.
At Universal Engineering, no client would be having a void of worry as we cover everything from start to finish. We are here to solve your lifting problems whether it is advice or to design your dream lifting equipment. We prioritize our lifting equipment services like beam lifting equipment , spreader bar lifting equipment, spreader beam, lift beam and four point spreader lift beam (spreader bar for lifting and load spreader). Along with this we do spreader beam calculation and design. Universal provide one tone spreader bar which is in stock and available worldwide via Universal engineering distributors and rental partners for any lifting equipments in a cost effective manner.
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