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The Apex 2 leg strap buckled around a worker’s thigh, with webbing running down from a clip at the waistband

Council and maintenance

Council and maintenance workers cover enormous ground (parks, roads, waste collection, facilities, infrastructure), often alone or in small teams with limited mechanical support. The variety of tasks is what makes this sector challenging: no two shifts are the same, and neither is the load.

The common roles at risk
  • Parks and gardens worker
  • Road maintenance worker
  • Civil construction and drainage crew
  • Waste collection worker
  • Street cleaning worker
  • Public works crew
  • Water and sewer maintenance worker
  • Arborist and tree worker
  • Fleet and workshop mechanic
  • Building and maintenance officer
  • Cemetery and grounds staff
  • Maintenance fitter and technician
  • Property maintenance worker
  • Facilities coordinator
A road crew in hi-vis working a resurfacing job at night under work lights
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The hazard

Where the load
actually comes from.

Council and maintenance workers handle a wide and unpredictable range of loads throughout every shift (tools, equipment, signs, pipes, landscaping materials, waste bins and maintenance components), often without the mechanical aids available in more controlled environments.

The risk of back injury builds through repetitive manual tasks, forceful exertions and sustained awkward postures: bending, twisting, kneeling and reaching in roadside locations, trenches, parks and public facilities where safe handling positions are rarely possible. Add ground-level handling, work above shoulder height, vibration from powered equipment and fatigue from prolonged outdoor work, and the physical toll on the lower back compounds steadily across every shift.

Reducing the risk,
and meeting the duty.

In Australia and other regulated jurisdictions, employers have a legal duty to identify, assess and control the risks of musculoskeletal disorders, including back injuries, arising from hazardous manual tasks. The focus of WHS legislation is prevention through risk elimination (if possible) and engineering solutions rather than reliance on lifting technique training alone.

Safe Work Australia
Reducing back injury risk and meeting WHS requirements in council and maintenance worker operations:
  1. Identify hazardous manual tasks
  2. Assess risk factors in those tasks SA2050 can assist organisations assess and quantify risk for each manual task
  3. Minimise risks using the hierarchy of control Apex2 is a mechanical aid designed to reduce risk when lifting and bending
  4. Provide information, instruction and training SA2050 provides comprehensive training and assessment of the Apex2 in the workplace
  5. Review control measures

A crew of one means no one covers the gap.

Council and maintenance workers often operate alone or in small teams. When one person is injured, the task does not disappear. It either waits or gets redistributed to a crew that is already stretched.

What one back injury costs
  1. A worker on restricted duties and a task list that does not get shorter.
  2. A small team absorbing the extra load, with no spare capacity to absorb it.
  3. A WorkCover claim that sits on the council's record through the next budget cycle.
  4. An experienced person (who knows the infrastructure, the routes and the equipment) who may not return.
The other operations
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