Manual Handling Training In Manual By Health Professionals

Manual handling training is one of the leading causes of work related musculoskeletal injuries across Australia, with the spine and upper limb being the most commonly impacted from a regional perspective.  Many organisations over the last 5-10 years have really progressed with regards to their duty of care and OHS management system and this has resulted in an increase in awareness of manual handling hazards and risks and changes to systems, job tasks and behaviours that will hopefully result in a reduction in manual handling injuries.     For those who are currently working in the OHS space, ideally work systems will be designed where manual handling hazards and risks can be minimized, but in many situations this is not possible due to many factors and what we therefore rely on are lower order administrative control measures, ppe and manual handling training to try and reduce ones risk of injury.  Essentially 50kg is 50kg if we are required to lift it and for many individuals there will be an inherent risk of injury should we have to lift this regardless of technique.  That is essentially due to the weight of the load.  What I do think manual handling training brings to a company is to get workers talking about manual tasks, becoming more self aware of hazards and risks and being able to make a decision for themselves regarding whether that is safe to move or not.  Manual lifting when performed on a regular basis will become somewhat automatic and therefore human behaviour and lifting patterns may develop which may involved good or bad habits.  So therefore it is important to regularly discuss and challenge ideas and behaviours so that we can all be mindful of manual handling.  Essentially i will always tell workers that there is no one way to lift correctly, but many.  There is no national standard on what is safe or not to safe to lift in the workplace and that they must decide for themselves what is comfortable.  That the body likes variation and that there are common principles we should apply when manual handling so to ensure that we minimise our risk to injury over ones career.

This blog post was written by osteopath Heath Williams of Principle Four Osteopathy. Principle Four Osteopathy is one of Melbourne City CBD leading Osteopathy clinics. At the clinic we treat a wide range of clients, ranging from the office worker, exercise enthusiast to athlete. We have 3 experienced osteopaths working across both of the clinics. The Melbourne City CBD clinic is located at 29 Somerset Place (basement), close to the corner of Elizabeth St and Little Bourke in the Melbourne City CBD. Our premises adjoin the Jon Weller Personal Training Studio, a fully-equipped training space which allows clients to combine their osteopathy treatment with exercise tutorials or specific training programs and rehabilitation. The Docklands clinic is located at 717 Bourke St (Ground Floor), beneath the Channel 9 building near the walkway from Southern Cross Train Station to Etihad Stadium. Our premises adjoin Pilates on Bourke, a fully-equipped pilates and yoga training space which allows clients to combine their osteopathy treatment with exercise tutorials, pilates or specific training programs and rehabilitation. To speak to an Osteopath or book an appointment at Principle Four Osteopathy, please book online or call 03 9670 9290.