Picking up a Heavy Object

In this video, you'll learn how to adopt the right posture for picking up a heavy object, whilst taking care of your back

If it's a light object, there's a different technique

To find out more, you can watch the video called 'picking up a light object'

To pick up a heavy object, there's three necessary steps: positionning your feet either side of the object, bending your knees and picking up the object

Firstly: move your feet to either side of the object

To take care of your back, get as close to the object you want to pick up as possible, and position your feet either side of it

Secondly, bend your knees

Bend your knees and take hold of the object

Don't lean forward! Instead, keep your back straight and vertical, to protect it from any strain

To do this, tense your abdominal muscles and buttocks as you bend your knees

Thirdly: pick up the object

Once you've got hold of the heavy object with both hands, pick it up, keeping it close to your body so that it doesn't throw you off balance

When you pick up a heavy object, make sure that you don't start off too far away from it. The further away it is, the more you'll have to lean forward to pick it up, therefore risking a fall or injury to your back

To protect your back and to avoid falling when picking up a heavy object, always make sure that your feet are positioned on either side of it before you bend your knees

Over to you!