Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00406:body:0:p10
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00406
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why they are occurring
    * what needs to be fixed.

3.2 How to do a risk assessment for hazardous manual tasks
Identify who should participate in the risk assessment, for example those workers who do the task or their health and safety representative, and management who have control over how the task is done. Describe the task and area where the manual task is performed. Note which body parts are likely to be at risk of injury, then work through the assessment together to determine which risk factors pose a risk and why the risk exists.
The whole task should be examined, although it may help to look at the task in stages to identify all of the risk factors. For example, the task of putting stationery items away in a storage cabinet may involve the following steps:
    * collecting boxes of stationery supplies from the delivery dock – handling boxes that are bulky may increase the risks associated with this task
    * transporting stationery supplies to the storage area – using a trolley with poorly maintained wheels may increase effort
    * unpacking boxes of stationery supplies – unpacking boxes from the floor may increase awkward postures
    * placing supplies on storage shelves – shelving heights that are too high or too low may increase awkward postures.
Looking at each of the steps identifies the different sources of risk, which are the things that should be changed to control the risks.
For some complex situations, expert or specialist advice may be useful when conducting a risk assessment. There are a range of risk assessment tools that may be used. Further information is in Appendix F.

Assessing similar tasks
If a number of your workers carry out very similar hazardous manual tasks, you may assess these tasks together as a group instead of assessing each task individually. However, you should only do a group risk assessment if all the tasks are sufficiently similar and do not expose a worker to a different risk than if individual assessments were carried out.

3.3 What are the risk factors?
Working through the following questions will assist in determining which postures, movements and forces of the task pose a risk. The Risk Assessment Worksheet at Appendix D may be used to record the findings.

Question 1: Does the task involve any of the following:
    * repetitive movement?
    * sustained or awkward postures?
    * repetitive or sustained forces?
As a general guideline, 'repetitive' means that a movement or force is performed more than twice a minute and 'sustained' means a posture or force is held for more than 30 seconds at a time.
Examples of postures and movements that pose a risk if they are repetitive