Everyone should follow safe manual handling practices. You may injure yourself, harm others or cause equipment damage if you do not handle and manoeuvre victims or equipment safely. A risk assessment should be done before any new manual handling task to help you minimise the risk of sustaining or aggravating an injury.
A typical workplace injury is to the lower back, caused by incorrect lifting or handling of heavy, awkward or large objects. Heavy items should be transported with the assistance of other people or with the assistance of devices such as a trolley, trailer, side-by-side vehicle (SSV) or another vehicle. Objects like a surfboat, fully laden IRB, outboard motor and IRB floorboards are particularly heavy and/or awkward, and they require careful handling and manoeuvring[6]. Conduct the lifting and carrying of victims by following your training available in the Rescue module of this manual. The use of team carries and spinal boards is recommended for a victim who is not able to move themselves.