Removing and fitting vehicle wheels and tyres

Hazardous manual handling and MSDs

Employees who handle vehicle wheels and tyres can be at risk of injuries known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Hazardous manual handling is a cause of MSDs. They include sprains, strains, fractures and soft-tissue injuries. MSDs can occur suddenly or develop over time.

Manual handling is work that involves the use of force by a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry, move, hold or restrain something. It becomes hazardous manual handling if that work involves:

• repetitive or sustained application of force
• sustained awkward posture
• repetitive movement
• application of high force involving a single or repetitive use of force that it would be reasonable to expect that a person in the workforce may have difficulty undertaking
• exposure to sustained vibration
• live persons or animals
• unstable or unbalanced loads
• loads that are difficult to grasp or hold

Employers have responsibilities to protect the health and safety of employees. Those responsibilities include duties to eliminate or control the risk of MSDs from hazardous manual handling.

More information about MSDs and hazardous manual handling is available in WorkSafe's hazardous manual handling compliance code.

Risks from handling wheels and tyres

Employees who handle vehicle wheels and tyres may be at risk when:

• removing and fitting vehicle wheels
• lifting wheels and tyres onto and off tyre-changing machines
• lifting wheels onto and off wheel-balancing machines
• lifting wheels into and out of wheel baths or dunk tanks
• lifting and transferring tyres from storage, for example, mezzanine levels or racking
• lifting and transferring used tyres for disposal

Manually lifting wheels and tyres onto and off equipment or vehicles can involve high force, bending, twisting, awkward postures and over-reaching, which can be hazardous manual handling. Employees who manually lift wheels and tyres can be at risk of MSDs to the shoulders, lower back, arms and knees.

The risk of an MSD increases:

• as the size or weight of the wheel increases
• when lifting or lowering tyres or wheels above shoulder height or below mid-thigh height
• handling tyres with one hand, which can result in sudden jerky and unbalanced movements
• when carrying wheels or tyres over distances or rolling and pushing more than one tyre or wheel at a time
• when throwing tyres to and from elevated levels
• when retrieving tyres wedged in racking systems, which can require high applications of force together with twisting or awkward postures

Controlling risks from handling wheels and tyres

The following guidance may help employers control risks to employees who handle wheels and tyres:

Lifting wheels and tyres

• Employees should not carry wheels or tyres over distances. Ensure employees use mechanical aids such as tyre trolleys or dollies to move wheels and tyres. If mechanical aids are not reasonably practicable, ensure employees roll tyres and wheels. Employees should not roll more than one wheel or tyre at a time. Maintain clear pathways.
• Ensure employees use a mechanical aid to lift wheels off and onto elevated vehicles on lifts.
• If vehicles are elevated only high enough to clear the floor, ensure employees use a mechanical aid such as a levered wheel dolly to lift wheels off and onto the vehicle.
• Ensure employees use a mechanical aid to lift and lower wheels and tyres onto and off wheel-balancing and tyre-fitting equipment.
• Ensure employees use a mechanical aid to lift and lower wheels into and out of wheel baths or dunking tanks.
• Where manual lifting is necessary, ensure employees handle wheels and tyres within safe lifting zones between mid-thigh and shoulder height.

Lifting zones

Lifting zone rank

The zones are ranked from lowest risk, zone 1, to highest risk, zone 3.

1. Lifting within zone 1 provides the greatest strength and balance and the lowest risk.
2. Lifting within zone 2 is medium risk. Avoid lifting in zone 2.
3. Lifting within zone 3 is high risk. Do not lift in zone 3.

Storing tyres

• Install or use purpose-build racking systems. Ensure racking systems have enough space to prevent tyres becoming wedged.
• Use stock monitoring systems to help prevent tyre stocks crowding storage areas.
• If tyres are stored on mezzanine levels, use a storage conveyor to transfer tyres from ground level. Use a conveyor or tyre chute to transfer tyres from mezzanine levels to the ground.
• If tyres are stored above shoulder height, ensure employees use appropriate access equipment and mechanical lifting aids to store and retrieve tyres.
• Where manual lifting is necessary, ensure employees handle wheels and tyres within safe lifting zones between mid-thigh and shoulder height.

Training

Ensure all employees who handle wheels and tyres are trained in the safe operation of lifting and storage equipment and safe systems of work.

Consultation

Employers must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult with employees who are or are likely to be directly affected by matters related to health or safety. If an HSR represents employees, the consultation must involve that HSR, with or without the employees' direct involvement. Consultation should include discussions about how employees will handle wheels and tyres, making sure that risk control measures do not create new hazards. WorkSafe has guidance on consultation, including consultation with HSRs.

Resources

If the solutions provided in this guidance do not suit your workplace, consult with qualified occupational health and safety professionals, industry associations or unions about other options.

Wheel and tyre-handling problems and solutions

The following diagrams show different manual handling tasks when working with wheels and tyres. The diagrams first show a method of work that may place an employee at risk of injury. The diagrams then show a method that helps controls risks.

Removing and fitting wheels

Note: Use a lifting device with rollers to elevate and align the wheel.

Note: Use a wheel dolly lifting device with rollers to elevate and align the wheel.

Tyre changing

Note: Use an automated tyre changer with a lifting device and tyre mount and demount attachment.

Wheel balancing

Note: Use wheel lifters with a slide tray to eliminate the need for manual lifting.

Wheel dunking

Note: Use a mechanical aid that removes the need for manual lifting. The mechanical aid also removes the need for employees to lift wheels to and from a bath or dunk tank.

Tyre storage

Note: Use a purpose-built racking and access system. The system of work should ensure employees do not throw tyres or handle tyres above shoulder height or below mid-thigh level.

Note: Use a mechanical loading and retrieval system to eliminate the need for manual lifting.

Your legal duties

Employers

The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act) requires employers to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health, so far as reasonably practicable. Employers contravene this duty if they fail to:

• provide or maintain plant or systems of work that are, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health
• make arrangements for ensuring, so far as reasonably practicable, safety and the absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage or transport of plant or substances
• maintain, so far as is reasonably practicable, each workplace under the employer's management and control in a condition that is safe and without risks to health
• provide, so far as is reasonably practicable, adequate facilities for the welfare of employees at any workplace under the management and control of the employer
• provide information, instruction, training or supervision to employees of the employer as is necessary to enable those employees to perform their work in a way that is safe and without risks to health

The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (OHS Regulations) also place duties on employers. The OHS Regulations require employers to, so far as reasonably practicable:

• identify any hazardous manual handling to be undertaken by an employee
• eliminate any risk of an MSD from hazardous manual handling
• if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, reduce the risk of an MSD from hazardous manual handling in accordance with the hierarchy of controls provided in the OHS Regulations

Employers also have an obligation to consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with employees, labour hire workers, other persons who have a duty in relation to a labour hire worker and any HSRs on matters related to health and safety that directly affect them, or that are likely to directly affect them. This duty to consult also extends to independent contractors, including employees of the independent contractor, engaged by the employer in relation to matters over which the employer has control.

Employees

Employees have duties under the OHS Act to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and the health and safety of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions in the workplace. Employees must also co-operate with their employer's actions to make the workplace safe and comply with the OHS Act and OHS Regulations.

The WorkSafe website has guidance about the occupational health and safety responsibilities of employers and employees.