AUS - How to Lift’ Training Programs Ineffective for Hazardous Manual Tasks

Original article published by AIHS

There are significant shortcomings in manual handling training available to Australian workers, according to a national position paper. from the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA).

The paper outlines how work health and safety regulators will consider the compliance status of ‘how to lift’ training, and why these training programs are not effective for managing hazardous manual tasks in the workplace.

Musculoskeletal disorders are caused by exposure to a range of physical and psychosocial hazards at work, and prevention approaches implemented within workplace settings are often overly simplistic, focusing on worker behaviour and therefore misaligned to the complex nature of musculoskeletal disorders.

Furthermore, providing ‘how to lift’ training does not prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and does not change any of the hazardous manual task risk factors that workers are exposed to, nor does it address the source/s of the musculoskeletal disorder risk, such as:

• the design and layout of the work area
• the systems of work used
• physical and psychosocial risk factors
• workplace environmental conditions
• the characteristics of the load being handled
• things used in the hazardous manual task (e.g. tools and equipment).

The paper said there are a number of important steps for PCBU/employers, including to:

• manage the risk of MSDs associated with hazardous manual tasks by using a risk management approach
• consult with workers when identifying hazards, assessing risks and developing, implementing, maintaining, reviewing and revising control measures
• identify hazardous manual tasks in their workplace and implement suitable control measures, in line with the hierarchy of control, before providing training to workers in the type of control measures implemented.
• ensure that hazardous manual task information, training and instruction provided to a worker is suitable and adequate.

“Industry, business, unions, health and safety professionals and training providers should not promote, provide or use ‘how to lift’ training as a sole or primary strategy to meet legislative requirements or to control hazardous manual task risks,” the report said.

“Instead, duty holders should design the work to be safe in the first place, adhere to the hierarchy of controls and provide suitable and adequate training to workers.”

The position paper was developed by an HWSA working party whose membership includes Comcare, SafeWork NSW, SafeWork SA, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, WorkSafe Tasmania, WorkSafe Victoria, WorkSafe WA and WorkSafe New Zealand.

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