This is a question that every nurse should consider as it could be a major factor in their nursing career. Indeed if training needs and education at all levels of the National Health Service are not reviewed and brought up to date, nursing could be heading for serious difficulties in the near future. Fortunately for nursing, the European Community has decided to bring manual lifting and handling to the forefront by issuing directives which they hope will 'harmonise health and safety standards throughout the European Community such that competitive advantage cannot be gained by lowering costs as a direct result of lowering standards'. The most important of these as far as nursing is concerned is Directive 90/269, especially articles three to four which state employers have 'an existing duty to prepare and revise as necessary and bring to the attention of their employees, a written Health and Safety Policy'. It also expects employers to provide equipment which will allow workers to avoid manual handling and to ensure that a full assessment of all manual lifting tasks is carried out prior to their commencement, whether there is a risk of injury or not to the employee.
这是每个护士都应思考的问题，因为它可能是其护理职业生涯中的一个主要因素。的确，如果国民医疗服务体系各级的培训需求和教育不进行审查并与时俱进，护理工作在不久的将来可能会面临严重困难。对护理行业来说幸运的是，欧洲共同体已决定将人工搬运问题置于前沿，通过发布指令，希望这些指令能“使整个欧洲共同体的健康与安全标准协调一致，从而避免因降低标准而直接削减成本来获取竞争优势”。就护理而言，其中最重要的是90/269号指令，特别是第三至四条，规定雇主“有义务制定并在必要时修订一份书面的健康与安全政策，并将其告知员工”。它还期望雇主提供设备，使工人能够避免人工搬运，并确保在所有人工搬运任务开始前，无论员工是否有受伤风险，都要对其进行全面评估。
