International consensus on manual handling of people in the healthcare sector: Technical report ISO/TR 12296

In 1990 the European Union introduced a directive on manual handling in the health and social care industries. A review of the implementation in 2004 found a wide variation in official national guidance on patient handling. This paper reports the iterative development of a Technical Report (ISO/TR 12296) by the international standards Technical Committee ISO/TC 159, Ergonomics, Subcommittee SC 3, Anthropometry and Biomechanics representing 23 participating and 12 observing countries with expert support from the European Panel on Patient Handling Ergonomics. The process included 6 reviews over 3 years to produce a consensus document as a state of science summary. It has an overarching framework of risk management with sections on risk estimation and evaluation, organisational aspects, aids and equipment, buildings and the environment, staff training and education and intervention evaluation.