Do your people know how to not hurt themselves?
What does Manual Handling mean? Manual Handling refers to any activity requiring the use of force by a person to lift, lower, push, pull hold, or restrain something.
This means everything we do in life is some form of Manual Handling. Some everyday Manual Handling examples are the following: Putting boxes on shelves, gardening, cleaning, brushing our teeth, writing, and typing are all common examples of Manual Handling.
There are 4 key areas associated with any Manual Handling activity.
- The nature of the TASK itself.
- The characteristics of the LOAD.
- The layout of the ENVIRONMENT.
- The capabilities of the INDIVIDUAL.
Most companies have appropriate health and safety procedures to address some of these issues. Through ergonomics, workplace design and good work organisation, most of these risk factors have been eliminated, isolated, or minimised.
However, these are typically external risk factors and most individuals have little or no control over them. Even with the best ergonomics people still get hurt when Manual Handling.
That is because over 90% of the Manual Handling we do is interacting with inert objects. An inert (or stationary) object cannot cause injury. It is physically impossible for an inert object to hurt someone; therefore, it is the INDIVIDUAL that hurts themselves.
Although no-one would deliberately hurt themselves, people are inadvertently causing low-grade injury to their body because of HOW they interact with these objects.
Dwane (from Optimum Training) demonstrating back issues with a model of a spine. We offer Manual Handling training through our MoveSmart ThinkSmart programme
Traditional Manual Handling training has been around a long time and aims to address the capabilities (technique) of the individual by teaching them how to interact safely with the environment. The bottom line, however, is that even that has NOT reduced the incidence or severity of strain and sprain injuries.
That is because the old ‘rules’ that the bio-medical model has taught us, do not work. These ‘rules’ have influenced our beliefs and changed how we use our body. To continue to undertake Manual Handling training in this format is a waste of time and money.
What we do is not manual handling training as most people understand it.
We address the internal risk factors of human movement. We help identify the underlying behaviours that contribute to muscle and joint disfunction through all activities (Manual Handling) of life and living.
As a result of our unique training system, you will see people change their beliefs, thinking, and their attitudes, and raise their physical performance to prevent strain and sprain injuries.
To address only people’s physical performance without changing their beliefs, thinking, attitudes and understanding of their body’s feedback, will only achieve short-term outcomes.
Check out what we can offer in our training programme
