A manual handling risk assessment looks at a job where people lift, lower, carry, push or pull things by hand and asks what in that job could strain a back, a shoulder or a wrist. Sprains and back injuries from handling are among the most common reasons for time off work, and most come from ordinary tasks done many times rather than one dramatic lift. This template takes one task, rates each factor that makes handling harder, and gives every group of factors its own fix, owner and date. Fill it in here and download a PDF without an account, or speak while you walk, and the document writes itself.
Avoid, assess, reduce
The first question is whether the handling needs to happen at all. A delivery dropped where it is used, a conveyor, a pallet truck or a change of supplier pack size can remove the task entirely. Where it cannot be avoided, it is assessed, and the risk is brought down as far as is reasonable. The form starts by asking about handling aids for that reason.
Four groups of factors
Safety practitioners often remember the factors as four groups: the task, the individual, the load and the environment. This template follows that order.
- Task: how the body moves — holding the load far out, twisting, bending, reaching high, carrying a long way, repeating the same lift, working at a pace someone else sets.
- Person: who does it — whether it needs unusual strength or height, and whether anyone doing it is pregnant, new, young, injured or has a health condition.
- Load: what is handled — its weight, size, grip, whether the contents shift, whether it is sharp, hot or dirty.
- Surroundings: where it happens — tight spaces, poor floors, steps and slopes, heat or cold, wind, poor light.
Rate each factor, then fix the group
Each factor is rated Low, Medium or High, or marked as not applying. A High rating goes straight to the summary of findings. At the end of each group there is one place to write what will change, who will do it and by when, so the report reads as a plan rather than a list of worries.
Good fixes usually change the job rather than the person: raise the pallet so nothing is lifted from the floor, split the load, add handles, move the shelf, shorten the route, fix the floor, add a second person or a trolley. Training in lifting technique helps, but on its own it rarely solves a badly designed task.
How the work is organized matters too
Strain injuries are more likely when people are rushed, when breaks are squeezed, when workload jumps without warning and when nobody asks the workers how the task could be better. The form includes a few questions on these points, because a perfect lift done a thousand times in a hurry is still a risk.
Common questions
What is a manual handling risk assessment?
A written look at a task where people move loads by hand: what makes it risky, how high that risk is, and what will be done about it, by whom and by when. It is kept with the workplace's other assessments and reviewed when the task changes.
Is there a maximum weight a person can lift at work?
In most places there is no single legal limit. Guidance figures exist — for example, UK guidance uses around 25 kg for men and 16 kg for women held close to the body at waist height, and the US NIOSH lifting equation starts from 23 kg (51 lb) under ideal conditions — and both fall quickly as the reach, height, twisting and repetition increase. Treat them as filters, not as safe limits.
What does TILE stand for?
Task, individual, load and environment: the four groups of factors most manual handling assessments work through. This template uses the same four groups.
Who should do the assessment?
Someone who understands the task and has some training in assessing it, together with the people who actually do the handling. Watching the task being done, and asking about the awkward days, gives a much better result than assessing it from a desk.
When should it be reviewed?
On the date you set, and sooner if the load, the layout, the equipment or the people change, or after anyone reports pain, a strain or an injury connected with the task.