Very heavy work refers to any job that requires an individual to lift objects weighing more than 100 pounds at a time and/or regularly carry or lift objects weighing more than 50 pounds. Very heavy work is one of the job classifications used by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) for determining the physical exertion requirement of work. When it comes to applying for SSA Disability benefits, it is assumed that if an individual can perform very heavy work that they are also able to perform sedentary, light, medium, or heavy work, in which case they are unlikely to qualify for benefits.
The SSA provides Social Security Disability benefits only to those claimants who are unable to perform the work they did in the past as well as any other job. Sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy is how the SSA classifies the physical exertion requirements of various jobs in the economy. Jobs in which an individual is required to lift objects like tools, materials, goods, etc., weighing more than 100 pounds at a time are considered very heavy work as well as jobs that involve regularly carrying or lifting objects weighing 50 pounds or more.