Hazardous manual tasks, applied to picking and replenishment

The definition, and the five factors

The model Code defines a hazardous manual task as "a task requiring a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any person, animal or thing involving one or more of the following: repetitive or sustained force; high or sudden force; repetitive movement; sustained or awkward posture; exposure to vibration".

Two halves. The first describes almost every physical task in a warehouse. The second is the filter: one or more of five specific factors has to be present for the task to be a hazardous manual task in the legal sense. Weight is not on that list as a standalone trigger, which surprises people. Force is, and force is not the same thing as mass.

• Repetitive or sustained force
• High or sudden force
• Repetitive movement
• Sustained or awkward posture
• Exposure to vibration

What that looks like at a pick face

Read the five factors against a normal picking round and the shape of the problem changes. Repetitive movement and sustained posture describe most of a picker's day. High or sudden force describes the moment a carton is heavier than expected, or a shrink-wrapped stack gives way. Reaching above shoulder height into an upper level and twisting to a pallet behind you are the postural cases.

This is why where a line is slotted is a manual task question, not only a productivity one. Bringing fast, heavy lines into the golden zone removes reaching and stooping rather than managing them, which is the elimination step Safe Work Australia puts above everything else in the risk management process.

Pick path matters for the same reason. A route that reduces travel also reduces the number of times a person carries something the long way, and the productivity numbers and the manual task exposure are usually the same data looked at from two sides.

Replenishment, and the heavy end of the operation

Replenishment is where the mass is. Full pallets, cases at the bottom of a stack, and the awkward geometry of getting a case out of a pallet that has already been picked down on one side. Sustained force and awkward posture both show up here more than at the pick face.

The controls that work tend to be mechanical rather than instructional. A powered pallet truck or walkie stacker takes the push and pull force out of moving a loaded pallet, and height-adjustable positioning removes the low reach. Training in lifting technique is on the list too, but the Code's hierarchy puts it below changing the task, and a control that depends on someone remembering it under time pressure is the weakest kind.

Heat compounds all of it. A shed in February changes what the same task costs a body, which is a separate hazard with its own controls but not one to consider in isolation from the physical load.

Where the site-specific line sits

The Code gives the definition and the factors. It does not tell you which tasks in your building cross the threshold, and it cannot — that depends on the actual force, posture, frequency and duration, observed in the actual job. Two warehouses picking the same product can sit on different sides of it because of rack height, aisle width and shift length.

So this page explains the category and stops there. If you want a view on specific tasks, that is a job for someone who watches the work being done, and for whoever holds the duty to arrange. What is written in an award about hours, breaks and shift patterns interacts with it too, which is covered separately under storage award conditions.

Where manual tasks stop and something else starts

Once a task is being done from a machine rather than by hand, the category changes. An operator on an order picker has a fall risk and a plant risk rather than a lifting one, and the relevant documents change with it.

The same is true when the load moves into a vehicle path. A person carrying a carton across an aisle is a pedestrian and powered mobile plant question first, and a manual task question second. Categories overlap in practice; keeping them distinct is what stops one document being asked to do a job it was not written for.

Common questions

Is there a legal maximum lifting weight in Australia?

The definition of a hazardous manual task does not work that way. It turns on force, movement, posture and vibration rather than a single weight limit, which is deliberate — the same mass is a different task depending on where it starts, where it goes and how often. Any specific kilogram figure you see quoted is not coming from that definition.

Does a light item ever count as a hazardous manual task?

It can. Repetitive movement and sustained or awkward posture are two of the five factors, and neither requires weight. A light carton picked hundreds of times a shift from a low or overhead level can meet the definition while a single heavy lift does not.

Does training in lifting technique satisfy the duty?

Training is a control, but it sits low in the hierarchy. The guidance puts eliminating or changing the task above instructing people how to cope with it, so a control that relies on technique alone is generally the weakest option available rather than the answer.

Which tasks in my warehouse are hazardous manual tasks?

That depends on force, posture, frequency and duration as they actually occur in your operation, and it is not something a page can determine from a distance. The definition and the five factors above are the tool for recognising the category; applying it to specific work needs someone watching that work.

Read next

• how the duties are allocated
• the four-step risk process
• what is a code of practice
• a safe work method statement
• the confined space definition
• the plant Code of Practice