New National Standard for Manual Tasks

The Australian Government and Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) has released a new National Standard for Manual Tasks (August 2007).

This Standard replaces the National Standard for Manual Handling [NOHSC:1001(1990)] and has been declared under the Commonwealth Australian Workplace Safety Standards Act 2005.

The terminology of "Manual Tasks" is now used instead of "Manual Handling" and is defined as physical work activity requiring a person to use any part of their musculoskeletal system in performing their work.

The Standard includes exposure to vibration, sustained work postures, and repetitive actions in the scope as well as the traditional "lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, or otherwise moving, holding or restraining any person, animal or item" used in the 1990 National Standard for Manual Handling.

The standard is written with the objective of reducing the incidence and severity of musculoskeletal disorders to workers performing manual tasks.

With the expectation of the Australian Government and the ASCC that National Standards will be suitable for adoption by the Australian, State, and Territory governments, and the exposure given to the new Standard at the recent Safety Institute of Australia Conference, it is reasonably foreseeable that this new National Standard will ultimately become a NSW legislated requirement.