Manual lifting at work

At the request of the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, the Health Council of the Netherlands has investigated whether there are current or longer term options for deriving concrete health-based or safety-based occupational exposure limits for manual lifting. This advisory report is one of a series of advisory reports in which the Committee on the Identification of Workplace Risks examines various occupational risks covered by the Dutch Working Conditions Act and its associated regulations. To answer the Minister’s questions, the Committee studied the scientific data on the adverse health effects of manual lifting. The Committee’s focus was on results from longitudinal research, as these provide the most reliable picture.