Muscle strain from lifting and moving heavy loads is one of the most common causes of work-related illness in the UK, and as such, is taken seriously as a issue.

During your studies, you can avoid hazardous manual handling by:

• carrying out a risk assessment
• sharing the load with others where possible
• ensuring you have undertaken any appropriate training, such as the correct lifting technique of lifting with knees and keeping your back straight
• using a mechanical intervention such as a trolley
• outsourcing moving activities to specialists, for example, large items should be moved by specialist contractors

Only ever use specialist lifting equipment if you have been properly trained as it can present other hazards such as crush injuries.