HSE Manual Handling Policy

With the halfway point now reached, how have we fared in implementing the HSE Manual Handling Policy at ground level with the staff it ultimately affects? Three key areas have been highlighted by Servisource Training:

1. ‘All training programmes aim to change attitudes and behaviour and to facilitate safe handling activities in the workplace’ – How do we know if we are achieving this desired outcome? Changing attitudes and behaviours are difficult qualities to pin down but we must have some reference by which we can determine if training is having the desired effect. For example reporting of injuries, to both staff and service users, is a metric by which we can observe these effects.
2. Emergency situations, ‘Full body lifting should be avoided, except in emergency situations’. – It is becoming more apparent that ‘Emergency situations’ is a key topic in the training sessions. Staff need to be guided by clear local plans in this regard and practice these scenarios in the training environment.
3. ‘Ensure that manual handling issues raised during training courses are documented and ensure that the relevant line manager is made aware’ – Transferable is a theme that should prevail over the duration of each manual handling training session. Frontline staff who perform the duties give feedback on how they feel the techniques will suit their daily activities. By doing this the staff are much more likely to implement the techniques and by documenting the feedback, the instructor provides a regular stream of frontline information back to the line manager.