What Are the WHS Risks of Moving Heavy Wheelie Bins?

Wheelie bins are designed to make waste handling easier, but a heavy or overloaded bin can still create a workplace health and safety risk.

For cleaners, maintenance teams, waste workers, hospitality businesses, schools, aged-care facilities, factories and other workplaces, moving bins may be a task performed several times a day.

That repetition matters.

What are the main risks?

The main risks associated with moving heavy wheelie bins can include:

Pushing and pulling

A heavily loaded bin can require significant force to get moving, particularly across slopes, uneven surfaces, thresholds or damaged pathways.

Awkward postures

Workers may lean backwards while pulling a bin or twist their body while positioning it.

Repetitive movements

A task that seems relatively minor when performed once can become much more significant when repeated dozens or hundreds of times.

Sudden movement

A wheelie bin can move unexpectedly if a wheel catches on an obstruction or the load shifts.

Tipping and emptying

The greatest risk may occur when a worker attempts to manually tip a heavy bin into another container.

What does WHS require?

WorkSafe Queensland states that a person conducting a business or undertaking must manage risks associated with musculoskeletal disorders arising from hazardous manual tasks. Businesses should identify hazards, eliminate risks where reasonably practicable and otherwise minimise them using appropriate controls.

That means businesses should not simply accept manual handling as “part of the job”.

The task should be assessed.

Can equipment reduce the risk?

Yes.

Mechanical aids can reduce the amount of force a worker needs to apply and can remove some manual lifting or tipping from the process.

WorkSafe Victoria specifically identifies mechanical wheelie bin lifters as an example of equipment that can assist with lifting waste and bins.

The solution could be as simple as changing the size of the bin, improving the route used to move it or providing better wheels.

For higher-risk tasks, a mechanical bin lifter or tipper may provide a more effective solution.

Look beyond the bin

A good risk assessment should consider the entire task.

Ask:

• How heavy are the bins?
• How often are they moved?
• How far are they moved?
• Is the ground level and even?
• Are there ramps or kerbs?
• Does the worker have to twist?
• Does the worker manually tip the bin?
• How many bins are handled each shift?
• Could the process be mechanised?

WorkSafe Queensland’s guidance emphasises that manual task risks should be assessed by looking at the task, equipment, objects being handled and physical work environment.

A safer waste handling process

The objective isn’t necessarily to eliminate workers from the process.

It is to design the process so workers aren’t unnecessarily exposed to high forces, awkward postures or repetitive manual handling.

For some workplaces, the answer may be smaller bins.

For others, it may be improved pathways.

For businesses handling large volumes of waste, a wheelie bin lifter, bin tipper or other mechanical handling equipment may be the better solution.

ASK Equipment Sales supplies wheelie bins, bin lifters and waste handling equipment for Australian workplaces.

If moving or emptying bins has become a manual handling concern at your workplace, contact ASK Equipment Sales to discuss the options available.