Manual handling, manholes and H & S best practice

Field workers across drainage, telecoms, pest control and other infrastructure industry sectors encounter access covers and manholes on a regular basis. These covers are often stuck and/or seized, meaning that workers will need to try and release them. The methods they use, such as hammering at the edge of covers to try and loosen them or using crowbars/chisels to lever the cover open, are dangerous and unsafe, with operatives risking injury as a result. In fact, injuries are likely, with the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reporting that manual handling is responsible for more than a third of workplace injuries. In spite of this – and the fact that employers have a duty of care to protect their employees from injury – few organisations have defined processes and methods for safely releasing stuck access covers which are both effective and accepted by field workers.

The manual handling challenge

Wherever possible, operatives should be provided with tools that help them to complete their jobs safely and with as little risk of injury as possible. The HSE document ‘Manual handling at work: A brief guide’ states:

“Avoid hazardous manual handling operations so far as is reasonably practicable. If you cannot avoid handling a heavy load, provide mechanical assistance (e.g. a sack trolley or hoist) wherever it is possible to do so.”

Our tool, the CoverUp Key, is specifically designed to release stuck and seized access covers. This unique tool provides a solution to a common problem for which there was previously no solution. Musculoskeletal injuries account for more than 7.9 million lost working days across Britain (source: HSE), and our key could help to significantly reduce absences caused through improper attempts to open stuck covers. Furthermore, our key can help organisations comply with HSE recommendations and observe the duty of care with regards to employees.

Why releasing manholes is hazardous

A worker dealing with a stuck manhole can injure themselves in numerous ways. With access covers typically situated at ground level, operatives are required to bend/stoop to reach them. The physical action of attempting to release the cover whilst bent over increases the risk of them sustaining musculoskeletal or repetitive strain injuries. 

Hammering around the edge of a cover, causing it to vibrate in the hope this will loosen it is another common technique. This technique poses several risks. For example, brittle cast iron can shatter, and the resulting shards can cause injury. Operatives can also overexert themselves, accidentally strike themselves with the hammer, can crush their fingers or toes by trying to prise the cover open and more. Injuries also become more likely the longer operatives try to release the cover, with fatigue and frustration making errors more likely. This is worsened by the fact that operatives often work alone and may be reluctant to ask for support through fear of appearing unable to perform their role.

Why a solution is needed

As stated by HSE within Manual handling at work: A brief guide: “The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require [health and safety professionals] to assess risks to the health and safety of your workers.” Furthermore, the same document states that if handling the load cannot be avoided, mechanical aids that eliminate or reduce risk should be used.

The injuries that workers operatives could suffer when attempting to release an access cover can result in litigation, damaged reputations and financial losses.

Introducing best practice and providing your workforce with the right tool for the job can negate many of these concerns – and ensure that you meet your obligation to provide operatives with mechanical aids wherever possible.

The CoverUp Key          

The CoverUp Key is the only tool developed solely to release stuck manholes and other access covers. Using a patented slide-hammer action, the key can be used to deliver repeated, extreme upward impact force to the underside of manholes and other access covers. Known as cyclical impact, it is established that this type of force is more effective than a single applied force as it reduces the amount of energy lost to friction and lowers the level of force an operative is required to exert in order to move the cover. This phenomenon, known as dynamic loosening, has been studied in bolted joints and other mechanical systems.

Our tool is heavy enough to deliver substantial impact to the underside of a cover, but light enough to be easily carried by operatives (approximately 6kg). With a total of 17 interchangeable tips, it can be used on virtually all types of access cover. Ergonomic design, including two sets of handles, allows operatives of various heights to use the key whilst maintaining a natural, upright posture.

Implementing the CoverUp Key

With very little training required – teamed with its economical price and relatively small size – adding the CoverUp Key to your organisation is a straightforward task. Toolbox talks (a templated toolbox talk is available from CoverUp Key on request) quickly address the basics that workers need to know about inspection, correct posture, general safety and the need to use the CoverUp Key before resorting to other methods to release a cover.

Conclusion

Organisations have a duty to protect their employees from injury and, where this risk is unavoidable, to provide resources that minimise it wherever possible. Operatives that find themselves trying to release stuck covers run the risk of musculoskeletal or more serious injuries, yet most organisations have neither defined processes which are effective and accepted for such scenarios, nor have they provided their employees with the most appropriate tools.

The CoverUp Key provides an easy-to-implement solution that will make practices safer, more efficient and save your organisation money! Click here to download our whitepaper How to raise manhole and inspection covers safely or here to find a retailer of the key.