Is your current training falling short?
Manual handling training is a staple right across industries. We all want to prevent injuries in the workplace, and arranging training is one way in which we can address that.
The question remains, is your current training falling short?
Join us as we share the mistakes of subpar training and how you can avoid this.
Mistake 1: The Manual Handling Training primarily focuses on how to lift, not how to identify and reduce risk.
Too often training is focused heavily on how to lift, repeating the key important phrases of “bend with your knees, and keep the item close to your body”. Staff finish these sessions being able to understand how to lift in a training environment, but not always how it plays a role in the overarching framework of risk controls. Learning how to lift well is imperative, but not in isolation. Many times, the team member won’t correlate it back to how they perform manual tasks safely for their role, including the use of mechanical aids, tools, equipment and safe work procedures.
Mistake 2: The Training doesn’t empower team members to learn about rating and quantifying risk.
What even is risk? How can you quantify it? What makes something riskier than something else?
Many subpar trainings don’t educate teams on how to use a risk heat map to visualise the continuum of risk and how Consequence x Likelihood affects the risk rating. Manual Handling Training needs to be more than just how to lift and needs to focus in on the “hazardous” element of Hazardous Manual Handling.
Without adequate support and tailored training, team members regularly misunderstand risk and how it can impact and influence the hazards around them. A common example is that most team members will correctly rank risky situations with regard to the consequence but tend to forget just how important likelihood and controls play in the end residual risk. They tend to focus only on the big items and forget the immediate risk around them.
Mistake 3: The Training doesn’t empower staff to understand controls to help de-escalate and lower the residual risk.
Controls are often mentioned during the training, but not mapped out, to help team members visualise how effective a control can be to “cool off” the risk and de-escalate it.
Visual representation, interactive workshopping, reflection and discussion are key factors that positively influence training quality.
Mistake 4: The training doesn’t emphasise the importance of reporting in the continuous loop of improvement.
Increasing visibility of any hazards through robust and continuous reporting is a key metric in reducing and preventing injuries. It can lead to best practice solutions, innovation, all whilst promoting a proactive safety ethos. This simply isn’t emphasised enough with subpar training providers.
Knowledge is power, and everyone has an important role to play in workplace safety.
Mistake 5: The training isn’t interactive and it’s boring!
Ok, this was a bonus one, but it’s a biggie. No one wants to attend boring training with someone standing at the front lecturing to them or be subjected to computer based click through training, without any relevance to their actual role. It is important that training is job and site specific, interactive, involves inquiry and reflection to enthuse and empower team members.
The more empowered we are, the more self-confidence and motivation we then possess, to learn more.
Check out our website for more information on how we can support you with our Manual Handling Training.