1. A sufficient number of suitable first aid kits should be supplied. There should be one Basic Trained First Aider on all practical courses, training courses or any other event. There should be one Qualified First Aider on all projects with significant levels of risk. Volunteers must be briefed at the start of each project as to the provision and location of First Aid kits and trained First Aiders.
  2. Be careful at all times when working with and among stones. Keep the work area as clear as possible, leaving a clear space of 2-3′ (600-900mm) alongside the wall. Watch out for loose stones under foot, and keep all stone within a well defined area.
  3. Take particular care when working on a slope not to overbalance or to let stones roll away.
  4. Bear in mind that grass is slippery, especially when wet or on a slope.
  5. When dismantling a wall be aware of a possible collapse. Work carefully to avoid this happening, and ensure you have a clear area in which to make your escape.
  6. Take great care when removing large stones and heavy coping from the wall, when there is a high risk of back strain. Also be aware that other stones may be dragged off the wall along with the large stone, or a more general collapse may be initiated.
  7. Avoid bending more than is necessary. Work from the downhill side on a slope.
  8. Carry as little as possible uphill. Collect stones from higher up and carry or roll them down to the wall.
  9. When climbing a wall, press down on the stones rather than pulling up or out. Put your feet as low as possible, on a solid ledge, not a projecting stone. Don’t put your feet on the coverband or coping. If you can get over without touching the coping at all, so much the better.
  10. Keep tools within easy reach, but not where you may trip on them. Lean tools against the base of the wall when not in use.
  11. Work far enough away from other people that you won’t get in their way, and won’t hurt anyone else if you drop a stone.
  12. Some types of stone are more difficult to handle than others, and require extra care. Granite is particularly bad because it is coarse grained, readily cuts the skin and tends to leave flakes of mica in the wound, which then goes septic. Clean even minor scratches and abrasions well.

Manual handling and lifting of stone

When moving stone, always think of the dangers involved and choose methods appropriate to the size of the task.

Remember that injury can be caused by the repetitive movements involved in handling large amounts of smaller stone, as well as in moving single, heavy stones. People who are unused to manual handling work should work at a sensible speed and take rests as necessary, and even experienced workers should be wary of repetitive strain injury. The total weight lifted by one person during a day of dismantling or building a wall can be considerable.

Assess the stone and how it is likely to balance. You will want to position yourself so that any uneven weight distribution is towards your body. You will also need to determine how good a grip you can get, and where to hold the stone. Note that it is easier to lift a straight edged or regular stone of a given weight than a rounded or lumpy one of the same weight.

Stance affects your balance, which in turn affects the possibility of muscle strain. A good stance is important during all operations involving handling of stone, from the lifting of heavy boulders to the placing of smaller stone on the wall. You can equally strain your back through repetitive incorrect bending as through trying to lift a heavy stone. Work with your feet slightly apart, one slightly in front of the other and on as level ground as possible. Always stand on stone free ground, not on a pile of rubble.

This stance provides a solid ‘platform’ to work from, transfers stress and reduces the amount by which the back is constantly compensating for lifting and movement.

Having assessed the stone and positioned your feet, you now have to lift the stone. Keep your shoulders back and tilt your head back to straighten the upper part of the body.

Lifting heavy stones

The tilting of the head is very important, as where the head goes the trunk will follow, and your spine will be straightened as your head goes back. Lift the stone in one fluid movement, with your elbows locked and keeping the stone as close to your body as possible. The locking of the elbows coupled with the straight back ensures that your thighs, which have the strongest muscles in your body, do most of the work. Fluidity of movement evens out the sudden forces and strains from making jerky movements.

Keeping the stone close to the body reduces leverage on the spine, as you are holding the stone as close as possible to your centre of gravity. You are also less likely to topple, stagger or drop the stone.

Take care in particular when removing large coping stones from a wall. Some leverage on the spine is inevitable, but it is often possible to ‘strengthen’ your back by leaning on the wall for support.

Carrying and placing stone

To reduce the risks involved with carrying, the largest stones should be manoeuvred over the ground until they are alongside the wall, and then lifted directly into position. However, some large stones will have to be carried, if only a few feet.

  1. Be careful where you tread, as uneven ground and stones will affect your balance. Be ready to compensate for unavoidable hazards such as slopes, or find an alternative method of moving the stone.
  2. As with lifting, keep your elbows tucked into your side and your head up, to ensure that your legs do most of the work.
  3. Resting a stone on the thighIf you need to pause for a moment before placing the stone, slightly rest large stones on your thigh.
  4. Avoid twisting from the waist, but instead move your feet to change the orientation of your body. Twisting places enormous strain on the spine, and it is repetitive or sudden twisting which is the most common cause of back problems in wallers.
  5. To place a big stone, stand sideways to the wall and swing the stone most of the way over it. To avoid pinching your hand, lower the outer end first so that the stone rests on its midsection. If necessary, support the stone in this position while you place a temporary wedge under it, which will allow you to manoeuvre the stone without catching your hand.

Carefully placing a large stone

Summary

  1. Assess the stone
  2. Stand with correct stance
  3. Use secure hand holds
  4. Keep your back straight
  5. Keep your head upright
  6. Think about rhythm and timing
  7. Do not twist your body
  8. Know your own capacity and do not try to exceed it

Co-operation

The same lifting and placing techniques are used with two people working as with one, with a few refinements:

  1. Wedge the stone underneath before trying to lift it, so that both workers can safely get a grip without risking trapping their fingers. Lever the stone up at one end with a crowbar, and use smaller stone or blocks of wood to chock it up. Repeat the process at the other end. Take care that the stone is resting stably on the chocks.
  2. Lay the stone on the wall at an angle, keeping the outer end down, so that the person at the other end doesn’t get pinched.
  3. Where the stone is so large that subsequent positioning may damage the wall, it can be useful to place a 48″ (1.2m) crowbar or similar across the wall first, so that the stone can be ‘skidded’ into position over it. This method is suitable for large flat slabs, for example of slate, schist or sandstone. Take particular care that no-one spears themselves on the crowbar, or traps their fingers when removing the crowbar. This should be done by twisting the bar, rather than pulling it.
  4. When working with another person you must co-operate, or you are both likely to get injured. Co-operation involves co-ordination, timing and communication. Talk through the procedure first, so you both know how and where you are going to lift, move and place the stone. Co-ordinate your actions – for example, “1,2,3 LIFT!”, and likewise for putting down. Whatever you do, don’t drop it without some form of warning to your partner.
  5. With irregular or rounded stone which is difficult to grip, a sack can be used to lift the stone. Lay the sack on the ground near the wall, roll the stone onto it, and then one person each takes two corners to lift the stone into place. To aid grip, small stones can be set into each of the four corners of the sack, which is then twisted around them.
  6. For some large stones to be placed above waist level, three people can work together. Carry out the same procedures as above, with a pair lifting the stone to their waist, and the third person acting as a boost getting ‘under’ the stone to help lift it the last foot or so.
  7. Whenever you place a bigger stone on a smaller one, take care that the smaller one doesn’t rise up and ‘chock’ your finger.

Manoeuvring large stones

  1. Big, partly-buried stones can be levered out of the ground with a crowbar. Use a small stone as a fulcrum, placed as near to the end of the bar as possible for maximum leverage.
    It is safest to use just one bar. Often, however, two are required, each one alternately worked as a lever and then held steady to keep the stone in position while the other bar lifts. In any case, restrict the workforce to one person per crowbar, since the risk of someone being injured is much greater if extra people are around when the bar or stone slips.
    Partly-buried stones can be levered out of the ground with a crowbar
  2. Don’t use a pick to lever up a stone unless you are sure the stone is reasonably flat underneath. Otherwise the pick is likely to slip off it and throw you off balance. It is safer to lift it using a broad-bladed mattock and then, as soon as there is sufficient space underneath, to wedge the stone and finish lifting it with a crowbar.
  3. To shift a large stone across the ground, tilt it up on its end or side, straddle it and roll it along between your legs. With a long rectangular slab, you can ‘walk’ it by pivoting it on alternate corners, aligned either horizontally or vertically depending on its shape.
  4. Shift a really big slab or boulder with the aid of boards and rollers. First use a crowbar and blocks or wedges to get the stone level and off the ground. Clear any obstructions from underneath with the crowbar. Lay solid planks, 2 x 8″ (50 x 200mm), from the stone to the wall. The planks must be level, or the whole enterprise may get out of control. Put the near end of the second plank a few inches under the far end of the first plank to anchor it. Place wooden or metal rollers on the plank and nudge the stone along slowly, in turn moving the rollers to the front.
    Moving a heavy stone using planks and rollers
    An even heavier slab can be moved by first manoeuvring the stone onto a short plank, and then rolling stone and plank together towards the wall. Instead of rollers, you can use a trolley, such as the base of an old supermarket cage.
  5. Planks can be used as ramps to get large stones onto the wall and avoid lifting. They should be about 2 x 8″ (50 x 200mm) and about 8′ (2.4m) long, and set against the wall to make a ramp no steeper than about 30˚. Blocky stone can be rolled up the plank, and less blocky stone lifted and moved in short stages up the plank. A heavier slab can be moved by means of rollers or a short plank plus rollers, pushed up a pair of suitably supported planks.
  6. To move boulders on a slope where rollers are impractical, use a Tirfor winch with the hook-and-line chain described below.
  7. The easiest way to move really heavy rocks is with a tractor or four-wheel drive vehicle. Use a chain or nylon slings and webbing as supplied for use with winches and other lifting equipment. The chain should have a flattened hook at the end which can fit around any of the links of the chain to secure. First prop up the front end of the stone several inches, wrap the chain around it and pull the stone out onto level ground.
    A large stone with chain webbing that will be moved by a vehicle
    Next, block up each corner of the front end again, and manoeuvre the hook and link until it is under the stone, with the other end of the chain running forward between the blocks.
    A large stone blocked up and ready to be pulled by a vehicle
    Back up the vehicle until it is almost over the end of the rock and secure the chain as tightly as possible to the trailer hitch. Knock the blocks out from under the stone, leaving the slab raised at its front end so that it won’t plough up the ground as you drag it away. On soft ground you can slide a plank under the stone to ease its journey.

Manual handling regulations

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require employers to include manual handling where appropriate within their general requirements to carry out risk assessment procedures. The HSE give details in Manual Handling Regulations 1992, Guidance on Regulations (HMSO 1992), and in a short leaflet Getting to grips with manual handling: a short guide for employers (HMSO).
The following points indicate how some of the regulations could apply to dry stone walling.

  1. Wherever practical, use a mechanical device such as a winch for the manoeuvring of oversize stones.
  2. Provide suitable equipment, such as ramps and sacks, for lifting large stones onto the wall.
  3. Ensure that everyone involved in the work has had suitable instruction in manual handling and is fully acquainted with the risks involved to themselves and others.
  4. Do not move or use stones which present an unacceptably high risk of injury.

The HSE has set out guideline figures for lifting and lowering materials, which in walling terms includes building and dismantling walls. The figures are only guidelines, and not limits, and experienced wallers would be expected to handle stones heavier than suggested by the guidelines. They do provide a useful guideline for novices. As shown in the diagram, the capacity to lift or lower is reduced significantly if, for example, the load is held at arm’s length or the hands pass above shoulder height.

Lifting and lowering guide table for men and women

These figures need careful interpretation. They assume the handler is well trained, using the correct procedures and working in reasonable conditions with a stable body position, or in other words, on level ground. They also assume that the load distribution is stable, which requires good hand holds on regular shaped stones. While people who are fit, well trained and experienced could be reasonably expected to exceed these limits, the HSE state that ‘any operations which would exceed the guideline figures by more than a factor of about two should come under very close scrutiny’, (HSE, 1992, p43).

Hammering stone

  1. When breaking stones with a hammer, work away from other people so they are not in danger if the hammer head flies off the handle, or if stone chips shower their way. Wear goggles when breaking or drilling stone.
  2. Hit the stone with the hammer head flat to it, not angled. This makes the chips fly out in front of you, and lessens the chance of the shaft breaking. It also gives the most effective blow. Try to stand so that you can hit the stone with the hammer central to your body, neither to your left nor right, but in line with your nose. This way the hammer head itself prevents chips flying upwards into your eyes.
  3. Don’t hold small stones in your hand to break them. Even if you don’t smash your fingers, your wrist will get sore after a while.
  4. Don’t push stones which stick too far out of the wall into place by hand. Tap them in with a hammer instead.

Cement and lime

Cement, lime and some additives such as waterproofer, frostproofer and and hardener contain irritants. They should be supplied clearly labelled with a black X on an orange background, with full instructions and safety precautions, with which users should familiarise themselves before use.

The irritants in dry dust react with body fluids such as sweat and eye fluid and cause irritation, dermatitis or burns. In wet mixes the presence of water results in similar irritation if there is skin contact. Contact with the eyes is particularly dangerous, and the eyes should be rinsed with clean water immediately and medical advice sought. The packet listing the chemicals involved should be shown to the doctor.

Take the following steps to minimise risk:

  1. Work in a way which minimises the dust produced.
  2. Wear PVC gloves or preferably gauntlets, which also cover the wrists, at all times when handling or mixing mortar.
  3. Wear clothing in such a way that it cannot trap mortar against the skin. Sleeves should be tucked into gloves, and trouser legs worn over boots.
  4. Wash contaminated skin in clean water immediately.
  5. Wash hands after using any of the listed products, and before meal breaks.
  6. In breezy conditions, wear a dust mask. When the wind is stronger, and splashing might occur during mixing, also wear goggles and mix in the shelter of the wall.

Roadside working

If you are responsible for, or supervising work alongside a road or footway you should initially contact the highway authority for advice. There are various requirements for major and minor works, which may involve signing and coning, vehicle and pedestrian barriers, safe working buffer zones, stop/go signs and traffic lights. High visibility jackets or waistcoats should be worn at all times.

Advice is given in the booklet Safety at street works and road works: a code of practice 2013 (TSO).

Chapters