Heavy lifting in an office

Video 24 of 34
2 min 55 sec
English
English
Want to watch this video? Sign up for the course or enter your email below to watch one free video.

Unlock This Video Now for FREE

This video is normally available to paying customers.
You may unlock this video for FREE. Enter your email address for instant access AND to receive ongoing updates and special discounts related to this topic.

If you are working in an office environment, you might think there is not really that much heavy that you have to move. But you might well find you are having to move heavy boxes, or one of the most common things you might find in moving are the large water bottles, and these will go onto a stand water cooler. When you look at the bottle, you think, "Well, it is not too bad." But it weighs 15 kilos, which is quite a lot of weight. So, if you do not lift it up correctly, you can quite easily do yourself some damage, or hurt yourself, or even someone else if you drop it. What we are going to do now is have a look at the removal and fitting of a water bottle onto a water cooler in an office.

Firstly, we are going to look at the wrong way. Now, just removing the empty bottle, you might think that is not a major problem, but when you are pulling it off, if you just grab hold of it and drag it down and drop it down on the floor, it is still putting a strain on your back and also it is bad practice. So, removing the empty bottle, you want to grasp it firmly and lift it up, and then when you are putting it down on the ground, bend your knees to put it down. Do not just lean forward just because it has not got a lot of weight to it.

When it comes to replacing the full bottle, remember it is quite a heavyweight. So, what you do not want to be doing is just leaning over and twisting, picking the water bottle up with one hand, just casually carrying it across to the cooler, and then just putting it down onto the floor. With the other example is, with these types you have to peel the label off. So, if you bend over, then if you are bending over with the back, this is going to hurt you and put a lot of strain on your back. And then when you are picking the bottle back up again to put it onto a water cooler, there is lots of action if you do not hold it correctly, that you can find you are twisting your back, you are also leaning to one side, and you are putting a massive amount of strain on the whole of your spine.

The correct way would be to approach the water bottle, keep it close to you, kneel down with your knees bent, tilt it to one side to get a good, firm grip, put one hand underneath the water bottle, the other hand supporting it, bring it in close to you, with not looking down, keeping your head straight. So you stand straight up, and then if you have to do a task like taking the label off, put it down on a table. As long as it is firm and it is not going to fall off or be any problems. You are then working at a good height. From there you can pick it up again securely, walk over to the water cooler, remembering not to twist your whole body. Then position it, drop it down, and then that is the safest way of fitting the water bottle on.

So we have done an example here of using a water bottle, but another very heavy weight you could be working within an office could be a box of maybe five reams of paper. Exactly the same technique for picking it up. But remember that, again, it is a very heavy an item you would find in an office, and if you do not handle them correctly, you can do yourself quite a lot of serious injuries.