Purpose Of Manual Handling Training

The purpose of manual handling training is worth stating explicitly, because it is asked to do three different jobs and they pull against each other.

To meet the duty. Provide information, training and instruction, and be able to evidence it. Satisfied by a module with a completion record, and satisfied cheaply.

To surface hazards. Give workers the vocabulary and confidence to report unsafe tasks. Requires content on the risk factors and a reporting route that visibly works.

To change how a task is performed. The hardest, requires demonstration and observation, and is the only one technique instruction genuinely serves.

Most organisations buy for the third, design for the first and are disappointed by the second. Deciding which dominates, for each group of workers, resolves it.

Safe Work Australia covers the training duty. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s manual handling course and risk management system.