Lena Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 Hello, I was wondering today, is there is a maximin weight a person can ever lift, given their build/weight etc. I've been told that a person carrying something like a rucksack, is recommended not to carry more than a 1/3 of their body weight. I guess this is over a certain amount of time. So it makes sense that something similar should apply to lifting. I have had a look at H&S stuff on the internet but can't find anything specific and I haven't got time to trail through it all.Specifically I am thinking about myself; I spend a lot of time not rigging/moving speakers because I am not physically able to. It annoys me and wastes time and I often wonder if I should be stronger or if I am risking serious damage. I don't mean that I do ignore safe lifting rules. But I do push myself sometimes and wonder if I should, or should I just accept the fact that I am a small and weak female.Does anyone have an opinion?Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 I don't know whether there's any sort of maximum weight that should be considered liftable, as defined by the HSE or anyone of that ilk. For some reason, a figure of 25kg looming from the very distant recesses of my memory when I read your question, perhaps that's relevant! Basically, if something is too heavy for you to lift safely and comfortably, I think it's quite reasonable for you to refuse to lift it. It's much better to ask someone else to come and lift something for you than it would be if you spent the next two months off work with a knackered back. A good friend of mine put his back out several years ago trying to lift something that was too heavy for him - it's still not right to this day ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 having just injured my shoulder the other day (fortunately its better now) I have heard so many people say 'Theres no room in this field of work for heros'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 Went on a Health and Safety course recently, and they said the maximum that a person should lift is what that individual person can comfortably carry. So if you're of the smaller persuasion, you might be only able to comfortably carry one stage weight, using both hands, but your mate might work for Gallowglass and regularly juggle steel deck. Obviously in that case what you can comfortably carry varies, and it's a bit silly trying to quantify it. I think a while back, in ye olde guide to Health and Safety there was some kind of figure around the 25kg mark (as Gareth said), but that's no longer in force methinks. As Gareth says, I see no reason why you should ever struggle lifting anything. If it's beyond what you can manage yourself (without causing a hernia or externalising your bowel), ask for help. Or put it on something with wheels. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 I think the 'Limit' in the construction industry is arround the 30-35Kg mark, but don't take my word for that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianl Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 it depends very much on what height you are picking it up from and putting it down at and if you need to stretch. the guidlines for picking up from the floor are much lower than if you pick it up from a table and hold it close to your body on my H+S manual handling trainer course we were given a chart showing different zones of the body and the max weight in each zone, you can only lift up to the smallest value of any zone the load passes through Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I was wondering today, is there is a maximin weight a person can ever lift, given their build/weight etc. To take the question to an extreme, I happened to see some weight lifting on the box (last Olympics?) and the gold medal winner in the heavyweight class lifted a weight equal to the silver and bronze medalists combined! Effectively, twice his weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 Well, yes there is a set of guidelines. Here's what I found out last year when I was designing some equipment that needed to be manhandled as part of my BEng:Lifting Guidelines Taken from the HSE publication Getting to grips with Manual Handling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lena Posted June 24, 2004 Author Share Posted June 24, 2004 Cheers tomo, that link was interesting. But I bet most people often lift more than those weights. This whole thing came about after I was asked to hang some 35kg speakers on to a bar flown to my chest hight. I couldn't move the speakers, never mind lift them and everyone else I was working with could. But then as they were more than twice my weight they decided it was ok that I couldn't do it. So I got to stand about and watch the men work...there are definate advantages to being a girl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 I assume that if the speakers are 35kg, then by the time you add on the weight of the rigging kit, you may have added another 5-10kg, i.e. up to an extra 25% of the original weight. This definitely in my opinion puts them out of the sensible 1 person lift zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitlane Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 The 25kg figure comes from the original Manual Handling Operations Regulations (1992). To be more precise it comes from an APPENDIX to the APPROVED CODE OF PRACTICE for the Manual Handling Regs. The ACOP to a regulation is an explanation of the regs in non-legal jargon. The contents of an ACOP are not law but if you are prosecuted and weren't following the ACOP then you had better have a very good reason why you weren't. The appendix to the ACOP for the MHOR gives GUIDELINE figures including a guideline maximum load of 25 kg in the most ideal conditions; i.e. load is held close to body, no stooping, twisting etc. etc. Part of a Manual Handling Risk Assessment is assessing the capability of the individual so any figure can only be a guideline which is why the 25kg figure was presented as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted July 16, 2004 Share Posted July 16, 2004 The appendix to the ACOP for the MHOR gives GUIDELINE figures including a guideline maximum load of 25 kg in the most ideal conditions; i.e. load is held close to body, no stooping, twisting etc. etc. This becomes an issue when loading counterweight cradles for example - an operation which involves lifting, stooping, twisting, and holding loads away from your body. We have been advised that our counterweights should all be no more than 5kg each. this of course raises the issue of task repetition and fatigue. - for a given load on the flying bar, substantially more counterweights will be needed to be loaded onto the cradle. The point being that all these factors have to be balanced against each other when assessing the risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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