What Is Moving And Handling Training

What is moving and handling training, and how does it differ from manual handling training? The two terms are used interchangeably in job ads and course catalogues, which causes organisations to buy the wrong one.

Manual handling is the broader legal category. Any activity requiring force to lift, lower, push, pull, carry, hold or restrain. It covers objects and people.

Moving and handling is the term used in care settings for the people-moving subset. Transfers, repositioning, assisted mobility and hoist use.

The practical consequence is that a general manual handling course does not qualify anyone to transfer a resident, and buying it for a care workforce leaves a real gap in a high-injury setting. Check what a course actually covers rather than what it happens to be called.

Safe Work Australia publishes the model code. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s manual handling course for disability and healthcare workers and workplace compliance courses.