Manual Handling Customised

The difference between IOH manual handling training and others is that your session is customised and practical and is delivered by an experienced Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist or Exercise Physiologist.

Our trainer will conduct an onsite visit to your workplace prior to delivering the training, to discuss your manual handling hazards and risks and to observe workers performing their usual manual handling tasks.

Photos and video will be taken of manual handling tasks being performed. These will be incorporated into the session. From the observations made, incorrect techniques will be addressed with recommendations for improvements.

An optional ‘unscheduled’ follow up observation visit is made by the trainer approximately 4 weeks after the training which encourages people to keep applying the newly learned techniques over a period of time.

This assists in sustaining changed practices and preventing people falling straight back into their old habits. 

Many injuries could be avoided if correct manual handling techniques were used or tasks were modified to remove continuous repetition, poor posture or a prolonged static work position.

This training assists workers and managers in reducing the risk of injuries specifically related to exposure to hazardous manual tasks in the jobs they actually undertake.

IOH recommends up to 15 participants maximum per session due to practical activities. To enable quality training, grouping workers from the same workgroup who perform similar manual tasks per session is advised. Mixed groups can be accommodated however this is not the preferred arrangement.

Manual Handling Hazards:

• Notifying employees of identified manual handling hazards in the relevant work area
• Notifying employees of relevant Safe Work Procedures and aids/equipment available to  relevant work area (to be discussed and identified at site visit by IOH with Companies Representative)

Photos of Relevant Work Area Manual Handling Hazards:

• 8-12 pictures of the department are reviewed
• Facilitator to ask participants what the hazards (in relation to the 5 manual handling principles) are in these photos

Video of Manual Handling Hazards:

• Video of clients staff member completing a manual handling task the ‘wrong/commonly practiced way’
• Facilitator to ask participant what the hazards (in relation to the 5 manual handling principles) are in this video

Practicing the 5 Manual Handling Principles (30 minutes):

• Facilitator to identify a manual handling task undertaken in the relevant work area and prompt participant(s) to complete the task using the 5 manual handling principles
• Facilitator to observe the participant(s) and provide feedback, correcting practices observed if required

A Follow-Up Session (optional) is conducted by the trainer, approximately 4 weeks after the practical training, to observe participants implementing newly learned techniques.

This has the added bonus of workers knowing they will be observed again, which encourages the sustained application of correct techniques. A brief email will be sent to the company outlining the trainer’s observations.