Introduction to Manual Handling

Manual handling is something almost everyone in a hands-on healthcare role does every day, and injuries caused by handling things (or people) incorrectly are extremely common. Understanding why these injuries happen — and how to avoid them — is essential groundwork before any practical training.

This course is split into six parts, each covering one coherent piece of the subject. By the end, you should understand the theory behind safe manual handling: which injuries poor technique can cause, the legal requirements around handling and equipment, the mechanical forces acting on your body while lifting, good lifting and moving technique, the right approach for handling and moving people (including bariatric care), and how good procedure, the right equipment and sensible room layout all reduce risk.

This is a theoretical course. It should always be paired with hands-on practical training relevant to your specific job. It's aligned with the UK Core Skills Training Framework subject "Moving & handling," and covers the knowledge component of that framework.

There's no single body that accredits manual handling training — different organisations publish their own standards and guidance. The main ones you'll come across are the National Back Exchange, the Royal College of Nursing, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the College of Occupational Therapists, and Skills for Care. The National Back Exchange sets much of the underlying standard that other bodies then reference.

Skills for Care — a government-funded independent charity representing an alliance of national organisations — sets the standards and qualifications for social care workers. Their qualifications are built from individual units, some knowledge-based and some competency-based, which combine to form Health and Social Care Diplomas (HSCs) at levels 2 and 3. HSCs replaced the old Health and Social Care NVQs in January 2011, and each unit specifies the topics and guided learning hours a trainee needs to complete it.

This particular course covers the theoretical topics set out in HSC units MH 203 and MH 206, required for the HSC Diploma level 2, and is CPD accredited.

Manual handling means using human effort to transport or support a load — lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying or otherwise moving an object, a person, or an animal.

A handful of terms come up repeatedly throughout this course, so it's worth getting comfortable with them early:

• Hazard — anything with the potential to cause harm or damage: an object, a disease, a situation.
• Risk — the probability that a hazard will actually cause its adverse effect.
• Risk assessment — a careful review of your environment that identifies what risks are present and how to prevent or reduce them.
• Care plan — a legal, written document for anyone who needs care (or provides it), ensuring continuity of care.
• Ergonomic approach — designing equipment and tasks to be as natural and comfortable for the human body as possible, reducing fatigue for both worker and patient.

You can always come back to this section later in the course if a term doesn't stick the first time.

The human body is remarkably capable, but only when used correctly — and poor manual handling practice injures a huge number of people every year, sometimes permanently. Healthcare occupations are especially exposed to this risk. Any resulting injury must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), which sets out employers' legal duty to report work-related accidents.

The HSE is the public body established under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) responsible for regulating workplace health and safety across Great Britain. Health and safety policy is reserved to the UK Parliament, though Scotland and Wales have working arrangements with the HSE to manage matters of shared interest appropriately.

Health and social care has the highest number of manual handling injuries of any UK industry. The HSE also warns that poor practice can lead to back pain and musculoskeletal disorders serious enough to stop someone working, accidents where both the person being moved and the handler are hurt, and a loss of comfort and dignity for the person being moved.

In short: healthcare workers suffer the most manual handling injuries of any sector, and while most affect the back, injuries elsewhere in the body deserve equal attention.