Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00406:body:0:p6
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00406
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 12930–15781

a health and safety matter with other business operators who are involved in the same activities or who share the same workplace. In these situations, you must exchange information to find out who is doing what and work together in a co-operative and co-ordinated way so that all risks are eliminated or minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.
For example, if a supplier visits your workplace to deliver goods, you should discuss with the supplier how the goods will be handled at your workplace, whether there are any environmental or other factors that may increase the risk (for example, using a flight of stairs while handling large boxes) and what you each will do to control any risk of injury.
Further guidance is available in the Code of Practice: Work Health and Safety Consultation, Co-operation and Co-ordination.

2. Identifying hazardous manual tasks
The first step in managing risks from carrying out manual tasks is to identify those tasks that have the potential to cause MSDs. Hazards that arise from manual tasks generally involve interaction between a worker and:
    * the work tasks and how they are performed
    * the tools, equipment and objects handled
    * the physical work environment.

2.1 How to identify hazardous manual tasks

Consult your workers
Workers who perform manual tasks can provide valuable information about discomfort, muscular aches and pains that can signal potential hazards. For example, you could ask workers to identify tasks that:
    * are difficult to do (or appear harder than they should be)
    * are very tiring (muscle fatigue reduces work capacity)
    * are awkward or dangerous (for example, difficulty controlling loads)
    * cause discomfort.
A discomfort survey that may be used is at Appendix B.

Review available information
Records of workplace injuries and incidents, inspection reports and any workers compensation claims made for MSDs should be reviewed to help identify which manual tasks may cause harm. However, not all hazardous manual tasks will be associated with reported incidents, therefore it is important to gather additional information.
Information and advice about hazardous manual tasks and risks relevant to particular industries and work activities is available from regulators, industry associations, unions, technical specialists and safety consultants.

Look for trends
You may be able to identify trends or common problems from the information you collect. Trends may show that certain tasks have more characteristics that make them hazardous or that some characteristics are more common in certain jobs. Trends may also show that workers in a particular location are exposed to more hazardous manual tasks than in other areas and this could indicate a problem with the design and layout of that work area or the way work is carried out there.
These