Question 1 · Scene Safety & Extrication · Moderate
A double-crewed ambulance is sent to a 140 kg man who has fallen in a first-floor flat with a narrow staircase and cannot stand. The crew consider carrying him down themselves. Which statement best reflects the employer's duties under regulation 4 of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992?
- AAllow any load to be carried, provided staff keep a straight back and bent knees
- BProhibit any two-person lift of a patient over 100 kg, whatever equipment is held
- CApply only to inanimate loads at work, leaving patient handling to clinical judgement
- DRequire a written assessment countersigned by a second crew member before any move
- EAvoid risky manual handling where practicable; if not, assess it and reduce the risk
Show answer
Answer: E
Avoid risky manual handling where practicable; if not, assess it and reduce the risk
Regulation 4(1) sets a hierarchy. The employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured. Where that is not reasonably practicable, the employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the operations, take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to the lowest level reasonably practicable, and give information on the weight of each load and its heaviest side. There is no fixed weight limit in the regulation, it does not exempt the handling of people, and technique alone does not discharge the duty; nor does it require an individual countersigned document on scene. For this patient, avoid and reduce mean more trained staff and lifting equipment rather than an improvised two-person carry. The ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine records that back injuries are the number one injury for prehospital staff and that staff should not attempt to move very heavy patients without sufficient trained people, and the Oxford Handbook requires patient handling to comply with normal manual handling techniques.
Where this comes from
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4Regulation 4(1)(a): avoid“avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations”Open at this section
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4Regulation 4(1)(b)(i): assess“make a suitable and sufficient assessment of all such manual handling operations”Open at this section
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4Regulation 4(1)(b)(ii): reduce“to the lowest level reasonably practicable”Open at this section
- ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine
- Ch. 31 Care of Special Groups: The Bariatric Patient · Equipment, transport and manual handling · p. 170“Back injuries are the number one injury for all prehospital staff.”
- Ch. 31 Care of Special Groups: The Bariatric Patient · Equipment, transport and manual handling · p. 170“should not attempt to move patients unless sufficient”
- Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Carep. 719Ch. 13 Patient rescue and transportation · Patient packaging and handling“compliant with normal manual handling techniques”