Roles and responsibilities

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Manual handling

Deans and directors of services

The key responsibilities for deans and directors of services are listed below.

You must:

Ensure effective governance of health and safety, including manual handling issues
Ensure that management systems are in place so that all manual handling activities are appropriately risk assessed and controlled, to prevent injury.
Allocate resources (time and money) for heads of schools/services, health and safety managers, school/service health and safety coordinators/officers and relevant trained risk assessors to carry out their tasks

Heads of school or service

Heads of school or service are responsible for the management of health and safety, including ensuring safe manual handling within the school or service. Key responsibilities are outlined below.

You must:

Undertake duties delegated by dean or director
Ensure that adequate time and resources are available and highlight any shortfall to dean or director
Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and corresponding University procedures.
Ensure that all manual handling activities have a current, suitable, written risk assessment (eg. as part of the activity-based risk assessment and, where appropriate, a separate, specific manual handling risk assessment). As part of this risk assessment process, ensure that effective control measures are implemented within a specified time scale, and reassessments planned.
Allow adequate time and resources for staff to attend training courses for manual handling, risk assessment and manual handling risk assessment training, and ensure that they do this.
Ensure that any lifting equipment purchased is appropriate for the task and well maintained.
Ensure that hoists and other lifting equipment are logged with the University insurance contact, to enable statutory examination and inspections to be carried out by the insurance company at the required intervals.
Ensure that all users of lifting equipment receive suitable information, instruction, training and supervision.
Ensure that employees, and students where applicable, are properly supervised and follow relevant safe systems of work.
Ensure that manual handling practices are monitored for compliance and appropriate actions taken, where necessary.
Ensure that any manual handling accidents or near-miss incidents are investigated and remedial action taken.
Ensure that monitoring takes place to measure the effectiveness of controls and compliance with University standards

Please note: If any of the above duties are delegated, measures must be in place to ensure the competence of those who will undertake them

Health and safety services

Central health and safety services will:

Organise suitable training courses for internal staff to attend for manual handling.
Monitor compliance with legal and University standards via audits
Write University policy, standards and guidance

Health and safety managers will:

Undertake duties delegated by the relevant dean, director , head of school or service
Work closely with the relevant dean or director and head of school or service to assist them in managing and implementing their responsibilities throughout the faculty, school or service.
Work closely with the relevant health and safety coordinator or officer.

School / service health and safety coordinators / officers

School or service health and safety coordinators/officers will work with the heads of school or service and relevant health and safety manager to assist them with the implementation of their responsibilities.

Academic staff and line managers

They must ensure that staff, research staff and students are:

Informed of their health and safety responsibilities. The responsibilities of staff, research staff and students are outlined later in this standard.

They must ensure for staff, and research staff involved in manual handling activities in their work area that they:

Know where to find copies of the relevant risk assessments for the manual handling tasks/activities they undertake.
Ensure that they have training on any specific safe working practices and lifting equipment
Are properly supervised and follow relevant safe systems of work, where applicable.

In addition, academic staff and line managers must ensure that:

All manual handling activities have a current, suitable, written risk assessment (eg. as part of the activity-based risk assessment and, where appropriate, a separate, specific manual handling risk assessment). Ensure as part of this risk assessment process that effective control measures are implemented within a specified time scale, monitored and reassessments planned.
Wherever possible, students are not asked to carry out manual handling tasks. However, if it is a necessary component of their coursework, this must be risk assessed, weights lifted must be within recommended guidelines and tasks must be well-managed (students should not normally be involved in lifting activities that require a specific manual handling risk assessment.)

All staff, research staff and students

All staff, research staff and students involved in manual handling activities have a responsibility to do so safely, to take reasonable care of themselves and others who may be affected by their actions, and to co-operate with the University in:

Familiarising themselves with the relevant risk assessments for the manual handling activities they undertake and use any control measures provided for their safety, eg. trolleys.
Following any written safe working practices.
Implementing good manual handling techniques and practices.
Reporting to the occupational health service (in confidence) or Human Resources or their line manager or lecturer any personal health conditions (including pregnancy) which may make them more susceptible to injury from manual handling activities. An individual risk assessment will then be completed.
Raising any issues or concerns regarding manual handling activities with their line manager or lecturer, or the health and safety co-ordinator or officer from their school or service
Reporting any injuries from work-based manual handling activities or near-miss incidents, using the Sentinel accident reporting system via a relevant trained person for the school or service. For more information about the accident reporting system, see the Sentinel guidance
Any other matters relating to health and safety