Safe movement of cylinders, vessels and dewars
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, amended 2002, place a statutory duty on employers to:
- Avoid the need for hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable
- Assess the risk of injury from any hazardous manual handling that can’t be avoided, and
- Reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable
Manual handling training should cover:
- Manual handling risk factors and how injuries can occur
- How to carry out safe manual handling including good lifting technique
- Appropriate systems of work for the individual’s tasks and environment
- Correct use of mechanical aids such as cylinder trolleys
- Practical training to allow the trainer to identify and put right anything the trainee is not doing safely
We find many organisations have undertaken some form of manual handling training, which on closer inspection does not include:
- An understanding of gases and how cylinders operate
- The weights and dimensions of gas cylinders and cryogenic vessels
- How to ‘milk churn’ gas cylinders by hand
- How to correctly lift small cylinders from the floor
- How to correctly use appropriate cylinder trolleys
Our manual handling workshop addresses all the above issues and ensures that operators are aware of how to move cylinders and vessels safely.
