manual handling training for support workers

Manual handling training for support workers carries a tension that training for warehouse work does not.

The person being supported has a right to make decisions about their own body and their own routine. They may prefer a transfer done a particular way, decline equipment, or want to do more themselves than a risk assessment would suggest.

Treating that as non-compliance is the wrong frame. Overriding it is not acceptable either, and dignity of risk is a real principle in disability support.

What works is involving the person in the assessment, recording the agreed approach in their plan, and escalating where their preference and worker safety genuinely cannot be reconciled rather than deciding it alone in the moment.

Safe Work Australia covers duties owed to workers. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s manual handling training for disability support and healthcare workers and introduction to disability services.