No matter what market sector or type of organisation they work in, many employees face manual handling tasks on a daily basis, as do people going about their ordinary lives. If manual handling tasks are performed incorrectly, they lead to a huge amount of distress and pain to individuals and can result in massive disruption to both the workplace and home life, sometimes on a lifelong basis.

The current financial climate is causing headaches for many UK and global organisations, and it looks as though the UK economy could be in for a rough ride for the foreseeable future. The credit crunch appears to be tightening its grip, inflation is rising sharply, fuel and other costs are spiralling, and business confidence faltering.