1 - What is manual handling training in aged care?

In aged care, both residential aged care and community aged care, all workers need to be skilled in safe manual handling practices.

Personal care or support workers are at a high risk of manual handling injuries, especially when supporting consumers or residents to move. Supporting people who cannot move with bed mobility, dressing/undressing and personal hygiene are some of the highest-risk activities.

Therefore, aged care providers need to ensure that manual handling training is a part of induction processes and that annual refresher training takes place to decrease the risk of manual handling injuries.

2 - What is the importance of manual handling?

Manual handling injuries are the primary cause of workplace injuries within the care sector.

Most injuries and manual handling injuries occur when supporting a resident or consumer to move. The highest risk task for a personal care or support worker is personal care, with examples being bed mobility, personal hygiene, transfers, dressing, and undressing.

Within residential aged care and community aged care, the primary risks to a worker are a strain or sprain musculoskeletal injury. Workers are often exposed to high-load physical movements such as transfers and bed mobility. These movements can place the worker at significant risk of injury, in particular, if they have poor technique, do not use equipment appropriately or are exposed at a high frequency to repetitive movements.

3- How do organisations mitigate manual handling injury risk?

There are many ways to minimise or mitigate risk with respect to manual handling in residential age care, or community aged care.

The first step is to ensure that all staff have completed manual handling training as part of their induction process, and that all staff have at a minimum, an annual refresher of the higher risk components of manual handling, such as bed mobility and transfers.

Organisations should then have a range of other strategies, including risk assessments for high risk residents or consumers, manual handling charts, tool box talks and auditing of manual handling equipment such as slings on a regular rhythm.

4 - What equipment should be covered in manual handling training?

The common equipment covered in manual handling training for personal care or support workers includes slide sheets, stand aid, standup lifter, sling lifter and mobility equipment.

If organisations use specialised equipment such as ceiling hoists and advanced shower commodes then practical on the job training should be completed on these pieces of equipment.

5 - What is an example of a safe manual handling technique?

There are many principles of safe manual handling, however, one of the most important and often overlooked principles is clear communication.

This refers to clear communication with a resident or consumer, and also clear communication with any staff member or colleague that a person is working alongside.

This is particularly relevant when working in higher-risk environments and movements such as two-person manual handling tasks with somebody with a resident or a consumer who cannot ambulate and needs a sling lifter.

6 - What is a manual handling risk assessment?

There are two types of manual handling risk assessments.

1. The first type is an overall risk assessment of manual handling in that workplace, and this is often broken down per task or per role. An example of this would be on an organisation's risk register. There would be an item about the risk of using a sling lifter and what strategies are in place to mitigate that risk. A clear example of a risk associated with using a sling lifter is a sling that is no longer safe to use, and a strategy to mitigate that risk would be a sling register and yearly auditing of each sling and ensuring that slings are replaced if they are deteriorated or outside of their expiry date.

2. The second type of risk assessment is resident or consumer specific. A manual handling assessment or risk assessment is typically completed by a physiotherapist or occupational therapist, and the aim is to determine the appropriate manual handling strategies to best support that resident or consumer. The end output of a resident or consumer specific manual handling risk assessment is a manual handling guide or chart. This is either a simple written guide that is in a resident or consumer's care plan and or a visual manual handling chart that may be in a folder within their room.

7 - What type of manual handling certificate do I need to work in aged care?

Personal care or support workers require a certificate III or certificate IV in aged care to work in aged care.

With respect to manual handling training, what is included in the aged care certificate can drastically vary depending on the registered training organisation that is delivering that training, as well as what placements that personal care or support worker has been involved with.

Therefore, it is still the responsibility of each organisation hiring a personal care or support worker to take them through manual handling training specific to that organisation and workspace workplace as part of their induction and to ensure that there is yearly refresher training as well.

8 - Where can I undertake a manual handling training course?

Residential aged care facilities or community aged care organisation often support their staff to complete manual handling training in person or via online training, or a combination of both individual personal care or support.

Workers often need to complete manual handling training prior to gaining employment, and this is often through a combination of online manual handling training and face-to-face components in their practical placements.

Community Therapy supports organisations with both online manual handling training and in person manual handling training. Learn more about Online Manual Handing training here.

9 - What should I look for in a manual handling provider?

When engaging with a manual handling training provider, either face-to-face training or via online training, it is important to ensure that that manual handling training is specific to the requirements of residential aged care and community aged care.

Within the manual handling training sector, there is quite generic manual handling training, which is aimed at the general principles of safe lifting, pushing and pulling. However, this is not industry specific and is not suitable for aged care providers.

An aged care provider needs to ensure that the training program goes through aged care tasks such as slide sheets, bed mobility, sling lifter, standup, lifter stand aid, and much more.