Manual Handling and MSDs: Making Risk Management a Business Strategy
Manual handling injuries remain one of Australia’s most common and costly workplace problems.
According to Safe Work Australia (2025), body stressing — tasks involving lifting, pushing, pulling or repetitive movement — accounts for 34.5 percent of all serious workers’ compensation claims. Most of these result in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as back, shoulder or joint injuries. Together, MSDs make up over half of all serious workplace injury claims nationwide.
In Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 require every employer to identify, assess and control hazardous manual handling risks. The focus is prevention: redesigning how work is done before injuries occur.
Why MSDs Matter for Business
MSDs are not just a safety issue. They are a major financial drain on business.
The median time lost from work for these injuries is 7 to 13 weeks, with average compensation costs exceeding $19,000 per claim. When repeated across a workforce, these costs directly influence a business’s WorkCover premium.
Employers who fail to address known manual handling risks or ignore early warning signs often see their premiums rise, sometimes sharply, over time.
Most insurance authorities track premium trends by claim frequency and cost, meaning that every preventable injury increases your exposure and directly affects profitability.
Tracking these trends internally through your incident management and injury claims data helps reveal the cost of inaction.
What the Law Requires (In Simple Terms)
Under Part 3.1 of the OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic), employers must:
Identify any work that involves hazardous manual handling.
Control the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, preferably by eliminating it.
Review and revise controls whenever:
there is a change in plant, systems of work or layout
an incident, near miss or musculoskeletal injury occurs
a concern or symptom of strain is raised
a Health and Safety Representative requests it
These review obligations under Regulation 28 are mandatory, not optional.
Failure to review and revise controls after an incident or when concerns are raised will be visible through your incident management system and can quickly expose compliance gaps during a WorkSafe inspection.
A Proactive Approach
The WorkSafe Victoria Compliance Code: Hazardous Manual Handling (2019) explains that good risk management starts well before anyone lifts, pushes or pulls. It means designing tasks, equipment and work environments to suit the people who do the job.
Practical steps include:
Consulting employees about difficult or fatiguing tasks
Using discomfort surveys or observation checklists
Reviewing injury and near-miss data for early signs of strain
Logging findings and corrective actions to demonstrate due diligence
Apply Higher Level Controls First
Training or PPE alone are not adequate controls.
Employers must start at the top of the hierarchy and eliminate or engineer out the risk before relying on administrative measures.
Examples of effective higher level controls:
Process redesign – alter workflow to remove manual lifts altogether
Conveyor systems or chutes – replace carrying tasks with mechanical transfer
Height adjustable benches and trolleys – keep loads in the safe lifting zone
Mechanical lifting aids – hoists, pallet jacks, vacuum lifts and tilt tables
Automation and robotics – collaborative robots (cobots) or automated handling systems that remove the need for repetitive or high force work
In high risk plants such as metal presses, bending machines or chemical handling areas, automation can remove both the physical and chemical exposure risks. These investments pay back through reduced downtime, lower claims and improved product consistency.
Industries at Greater Risk
Safe Work Australia data shows that certain industries continue to experience higher rates of musculoskeletal injuries from manual handling. These include sectors such as agriculture and forestry, manufacturing, construction, transport, health care, and public safety.
What these industries have in common is the frequent physical handling of materials, equipment or people. The work often involves repetitive lifting, pushing, pulling, or awkward postures that, over time, lead to strain and injury.
Eliminating or automating these tasks wherever possible not only improves compliance but also supports operational efficiency and workforce sustainability.
Review, Measure and Improve
Manual handling control is not “set and forget.”
A strong incident management process should clearly record when controls were last reviewed, what changes were made, and whether incidents or claims have declined.
This data not only demonstrates due diligence under the OHS Act 2004 (Vic) but also provides a clear financial measure of performance, linking safety outcomes to cost savings.
Safety and Profitability Go Hand in Hand
A proactive manual handling strategy protects people, stabilizes premiums and improves operational performance.
When you design work to fit people, rather than forcing people to fit the work, you reduce injuries, turnover and cost.
Investing in higher level controls, automation and robotics improves compliance, reduces injury risk and builds more reliable operations. The result is a healthier workforce and a more efficient, profitable business.
Questions Every Employer Should Ask
Before another quarter passes, ask yourself:
Have we proactively risk assessed all critical tasks that may involve hazardous manual handling and the potential for musculoskeletal disorders?
Have we reviewed and, where necessary, revised our risk controls after incidents, near misses or reports of strain, as required under Regulation 28 of the OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic)?
What is our appetite to incur cost through employee harm, business inefficiencies or rising WorkCover premiums, and what is our appetite to invest in higher level controls and automation instead?
Making safety intentional is good business.
References
Content in this article is informed by:
WorkSafe Victoria – Hazardous Manual Handling
Safe Work Australia – Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia
