Fear of compensation claims and enforcement are key to employer compliance on manual handling, a research report by the Health & Safety Executive on the implementation of the Manual Handling Regulations has found.
The report also points out the third most common motivator was moral duty.

The study found that those organisations most likely to have taken action on manual handling risks had generally had first-hand experience of the cost of accidents and ill-health. These organisations also had health and safety management systems in place.

However, the study revealed that a third of the 1,241 companies questioned had taken no action.

John Monks, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, which is campaigning to have the Manual Handling Directive amended to cover repetitive work, said the results made depressing reading.

'Although I salute those good employers who are taking action from a sense of moral duty, it is depressing to find that fear is the key to getting so many other employers to prevent back injuries at work,' he said.

Nearly half of the companies questioned said the benefits of taking action outweighed the costs — running on average at £3,000 per organisation or £30 per employee.