Safe Lifting & Materials Handling Procedure template

2. Responsibilities

• [Name/role]: owns this procedure, keeps the high-risk handling task list current, arranges training, and reviews strain and sprain reports for patterns.
• Supervisors: enforce the aid-first rules in their area, keep aids available and charged, correct risky technique on the spot, and act on early reports of discomfort the same week.
• Employees: plan lifts before making them, use the aids and team lifts this procedure requires, and report discomfort early — a sore back reported on Tuesday is a task fix; reported in month three it is an injury.
• Purchasing/maintenance ([name/role]): keeps carts, dollies, and hoists inspected and in service — a broken wheel is how an aid-first rule quietly dies.

3. Before you lift: plan it

• Size up the load: weight (check the label, tilt-test a corner), size, shape, grip points, and whether the contents shift.
• Size up the path: where is it going, is the route clear and dry, are doors propped, is there a place to set it down at the other end?
• Size up the lift, using the factors NIOSH's research flags: can you hold it close to your body, or is there a reach? Does it start on the floor or end above shoulder height? Will you have to twist? How many times this shift?
• Decide: lift it alone with good technique, split the load, make it a team lift, or get an aid. The aid-first rule: if an aid is available for the task, the aid is the method — [list: carts at receiving, drum dolly, pallet jack, hoist].
• Loads on the [do-not-lift-alone list at location] are never lifted solo, whatever the schedule says.

4. Lifting technique

1. 1Stand close to the load, feet shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly forward for balance.
2. 2Squat by bending your knees and hips, keeping your back in its natural curve — do not stoop over the load with straight legs.
3. 3Get a full-palm grip on solid points — not fingertips on a rim — and test the weight with a small tilt before committing.
4. 4Pull the load close before it leaves the ground; the farther it rides from your body, the heavier it is to your spine.
5. 5Lift smoothly with your legs, keeping your head up and the load close — no jerking, no snatching.
6. 6Turn by moving your feet, never by twisting your torso while loaded — twisting under load is where backs go.
7. 7Carry with the load close and your view clear over or around it; rest on a bench or ledge partway if the carry is long — [rest points].
8. 8Set down by reversing the lift: knees and hips, back in its curve, and mind your fingers under the load at the landing.
9. 9Place loads between knee and shoulder height wherever storage allows — the floor and the top shelf are the two worst addresses for anything heavy.
10. 10If anything about the lift surprises you — heavier than it looked, contents shift, a twinge — set it down safely and re-plan; do not muscle through.

5. Team lifts

1. 1Use a team lift for loads that are too heavy, too long, or too awkward for one person, and for everything on the do-not-lift-alone list.
2. 2Match partners of broadly similar height where possible, and agree who leads before hands touch the load.
3. 3Plan the route and the set-down together, including who walks backward and where they will look.
4. 4Lift on the leader's count — "ready, three, two, one, lift" — and move at the pace of the slower partner.
5. 5Lower on the leader's count the same way; the lift is not over until both sets of fingers are clear.

6. Mechanical aids

• The aids at [site] and their tasks: [hand trucks — boxed stock; platform carts — mixed loads; pallet jack — palletized goods; drum dolly — drums; hoist/vacuum lifter — [tasks]].
• Use aids only if trained on them; powered equipment ([forklift/powered pallet jack]) requires certification per its own procedure.
• Inspect before use — wheels, forks, straps, controls — and tag defective aids out of service and report to [name/role].
• Load aids stable and low, strap what can topple, and push rather than pull where the aid allows: pushing lets your legs and weight do the work.
• Report the missing aid, not just the broken one — if a task keeps getting done by hand because the cart lives two departments away, that is a finding for [name/role].

7. Designing handling out

• Order smarter: smaller package sizes or supplier-palletized delivery for the heaviest regular items — [items under review].
• Store smart: heaviest items between knee and shoulder height, rarely-used items up high only if light, nothing heavy on the floor or above shoulders.
• Cut the carry: stage deliveries at the point of use, keep aisles clear, and put set-down surfaces where loads actually travel.
• Rotate high-frequency handling tasks across the team and build micro-breaks into [repetitive tasks] — dose matters as much as weight.
• Feed strain reports and discomfort trends back into this section: every recurring complaint is a task redesign candidate for [name/role]'s list.

8. Training, early reporting, and records

Everyone whose role involves handling is trained on this procedure before starting the work — with practice lifts, not just slides — and refreshed [frequency] or after any strain injury in their area. Aches, twinges, and discomfort are reported to the supervisor early and logged at [location/system]; early reports get a task review, not a toughness contest. Strains and sprains that become injuries are handled under the OSHA injury and illness reporting procedure.

Training records, the high-risk task list, aid inspection logs, and the discomfort log live at [system/location]. This procedure is reviewed [frequency], after any handling injury, and when loads, layout, or equipment change. Owner: [name/role]. Next review due: [date].