_{If you need assistance with a claim, contact injurywatch.co.uk's free, confidential legal claim support helpdesk.}

More than a third of all three-day injuries reported to HSE are caused by manual handling - which it defines as "the transport or supporting of loads by hand or bodily force." The term is used to describe activities including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, moving, holding or restraining an object, animal or person. It also covers activities that require the use of force or effort such as pulling a lever or operating power tools.

Call 0800 066 99 07 and get our personal injury team working for you straight away. The call is free, the advice is free and nothing will ever be deducted from your compensation.

The majority of injuries are musculoskeletal disorders - to backs - although strains to hands, arms and feet, tendons and the heart are also reported. According to UNISON, every year 300,000 people are forced to endure the agony of back pain resulting from a manual handling incident.

Because these injuries tend to take longer to heal they have a more profound effect on longer term health and injuries typically result in lengthy - and sometimes recurring - absences from work (on average each incident involving a manual handling injury results in an eleven day absence from work).

Injuries may build up over a period rather than being caused by one incident and occur in almost all work environments.

Always take legal medical and legal advice if you suffer a manual handling injury at work. injurywatch.co.uk's free legal helpdesk is always a good place to start.

Areas where an employer may be negligent include:

• it was unreasonable to ask you to undertake the work
  • movement inherently requires bad posture;
  • requires large vertical movement;
  • requires carrying long distances;
  • requires extensive twisting, stooping or reaching upwards;
  • requires strenuous pushing or pulling;
  • load movements are unpredictable;
  • insufficient allowance of rest or recovery time; or
  • work rate is imposed by a process
• no alternative system of moving heavy goods was offered
• the loads they require you to lift are heavy, bulky or unwieldy, difficult to grasp, unstable or unpredictable, or intrinsically harmful (say, sharp or hot)
• there are constraints on your posture in the work area (eg low ceilings)
• surfaces are uneven
• there is a variation in levels
• poor environmental/temperature conditions (cold/hot/humid)
• strong air movements
• poor lighting conditions
• it is inappropriate to ask you to undertake this work (eg, if you are pregnant or have a health problem)

As always, gather the evidence:

• see a doctor -the effect of your injuries might be obvious in most cases, but injuries don't always show up straight away
• keep a dossier. Include a diary recording all the details of the incident, who you saw and all the expenses or losses you incurred, including receipts
• record the details of the incident - take photographs of the site (with a ruler to show the scale of lift if possible and signed and dated on the back)
• gather personal details of all the people who witnessed the incident or were party to the work practice
• gather information (backed up by witness statements from others) as to how long the work practice had been imposed
• note and detail any measures which had been taken to warn of, or otherwise diminish the risk
• note and detail any measures (such as low ceilings or uneven surfaces) which exacerbated the risk.