Module 4 of 86–8 minutes

Risk Assessment and the Hierarchy of Controls

How to assess an office manual task properly and apply the hierarchy of controls — trolleys, storage design and deliveries to the point of use before technique.

Last reviewed September 2026 · Part of Manual Handling Training for Office and General Workplace Staff

Key learning points

Work through the identify, assess, control, review cycle
Apply the hierarchy of controls to office and general workplace tasks
Consider the task, load, environment, equipment and worker together
Explain why technique training alone is not a control
Recognise when a task should be reviewed

The risk management cycle

Identify the hazards — which tasks involve manual task risk factors? Include the desk, not only the storeroom
Assess the risk — how likely is harm, how serious could it be, how many people are exposed?
Control the risk — apply the most effective control that is reasonably practicable
Review — check the control is used and works, and reassess when anything changes

What to consider when assessing

The task: How is it actually done, not how it is described? What postures and forces are involved, and for how long?
The load: Weight, size, shape, grip, stability — and whether the weight is even known
The environment: Stairs, lifts, doors, floor surfaces, storage heights, space to turn a trolley, lighting
The equipment: Is a trolley, step platform, monitor arm or adjustable chair available, working and actually where the task happens?
Frequency and duration: Once a year or twice a day? Ten minutes or a whole day?
The worker: Training, fatigue, existing injury, whether they are working alone, whether they feel able to say no

Hierarchy of controls

Most effective at the top

Eliminate: Remove the task — have couriers deliver to the storeroom rather than reception; digitise records so archive boxes are not moved; book removalists for office moves
Substitute: Replace with something less hazardous — order paper in single reams rather than five-ream cartons, 10 L water bottles instead of 15 L, or plumbed-in water coolers
Isolate / engineering: Change the environment or equipment — trolleys, sack trucks, sit-stand desks, monitor arms, compactus at the right height, chair dollies, a lift key for events
Administrative: Change work methods — two-person rule for full archive boxes, scheduled mail runs, event set-up time allocated, workstation checklists, training and supervision
Personal protective equipment: Least effective for manual tasks — grip gloves help you hold a box but do not reduce the force on your back

Technique is not a control on its own

Telling staff to bend their knees does not change the weight of the box, the height of the shelf or the flight of stairs. Risk should be controlled at its source so far as is reasonably practicable — by changing the task, the environment or the equipment. Training and technique support those controls; they do not replace them.

Practical controls in offices and general workplaces

Delivering supplies to the point of use so they are handled once, not three times
Storing heavy and frequently used items between knee and shoulder height — waist height for the heaviest
Keeping a document trolley and a platform step in every storeroom and mailroom, not locked in facilities
Providing docking stations, monitor arms and adjustable chairs, and showing people how to adjust them
Sit-stand desks with guidance on alternating, not just installed and left down
Scheduling event set-up with enough people and enough time, with chair dollies and table trolleys
A two-person or trolley-only rule for full archive boxes, written into the records procedure
Booking the goods lift and a removalist for office moves; staff pack crates, they do not carry them
Workstation self-assessment when someone starts, changes desk, changes role or reports discomfort
Maintaining trolleys and steps so they are safe to use, and replacing them when they are not

Practical scenario

Scenario: the quarterly archive purge

Every quarter the finance team boxes up closed files and carries them to the basement archive. Two people have reported back strain over the past year. The manager's response so far has been a reminder email about lifting with your legs.

Work through the hierarchy. What should the response be?

Reveal the explanation

Not another email. Eliminate: can closed files be scanned or sent to offsite storage collected by the provider from the finance floor? Substitute: pack boxes to a marked fill line so no box exceeds a manageable weight. Engineering: a document trolley kept on the finance floor and the goods lift booked for the purge day. Administrative: schedule the purge, allocate two people, write it into the procedure. Then review — do the strain reports stop?

Practical scenario

Scenario: the new fit-out

Your organisation is designing a new open-plan floor. The draft plan puts the stationery store and the archive shelving in a room at the far end, with the top shelf at 2.1 metres, and has no space marked for trolleys.

When is the cheapest time to control this risk?

Reveal the explanation

Now, on paper. Designing the storage so the heaviest items sit at waist height, keeping the top shelf for light and rarely used items, placing the store near the goods lift and allocating a parking bay for a trolley and platform step costs almost nothing at design stage. Retrofitting after the first injury costs far more. This is what consultation during change is for.

Knowledge check

These questions are for your own learning. They are not part of the final assessment.

1. Which approach is most effective for reducing hazardous manual task risk in an office?

2. Arranging for couriers to deliver paper cartons directly to the storeroom instead of reception is an example of:

3. Installing sit-stand desks and monitor arms sits where in the hierarchy of controls?

4. When should an office manual task risk assessment be reviewed?