Course Genie
Health and Safety

Manual Handling

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Pick a date that suits your team

Manual Handling is run on demand — tell us when you'd like to attend and where, and we'll arrange a date and venue that works for you. Single delegates and group bookings both welcome.

UK-wide venues + online Group discounts available

Overview

Manual handling injuries remain among the biggest causes of working days lost in the UK, and the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 place a clear duty on employers: avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable, assess what cannot be avoided, and reduce the risk. Training the people who lift, carry, push and pull is central to that duty, and it is a standard induction requirement across construction, warehousing, manufacturing, healthcare and logistics.

The course teaches how the back actually gets injured, then builds the practical skills that prevent it: assessing a load and the task before lifting, the technique for safe lifting and lowering, team lifts, pushing and pulling, and using handling aids from trolleys to hoists. Delegates practise the techniques, and the course uses the TILE approach, Task, Individual, Load, Environment, so the thinking transfers to any handling job rather than one rehearsed lift.

Manual handling also appears within the wider safety qualifications: it is part of the syllabus on CITB Health and Safety Awareness, IOSH Working Safely and the management courses above them. For workplace-specific risk work, pair it with Introduction to Risk Assessment. Browse related courses under health and safety training.

Who this course is for

  • Warehouse, logistics and distribution staff
  • Construction operatives and labourers
  • Manufacturing and production line workers
  • Maintenance, facilities and delivery staff
  • Office staff with occasional handling tasks
  • Supervisors who assess and plan handling operations

Requirements

  • No formal entry requirements
  • Comfortable clothing for the practical exercises
  • Tell us in advance about injuries that limit practical participation

What you'll achieve

  • A manual handling training certificate for your records
  • Practical, assessed safe lifting and lowering technique
  • The TILE method for assessing any handling task
  • Knowledge of when and how to use handling aids
  • Understanding of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
  • Evidence of induction-standard training for sites and clients

Syllabus

How injuries happen
Spine mechanics, cumulative strain and the cost of getting it wrong.
The law
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992: avoid, assess, reduce.
Assessing the task
TILE: Task, Individual, Load and Environment.
Safe technique
Practical lifting, lowering, carrying and team lifts.
Pushing and pulling
Trolleys, cages and the forces involved.
Handling aids
Choosing and using mechanical help.

Manual Handling FAQs

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require employers to reduce the risk of hazardous manual handling, and the HSE identifies training as part of that duty. Most sites and clients treat current manual handling training as an induction requirement.
Typically a half-day session including the practical exercises. In-company sessions can be tailored to the loads and tasks your people actually handle.
There is no fixed legal interval; refresher training every three years is the common industry norm, or sooner if tasks, equipment or incident history change.
Yes. Safe technique cannot be learned from slides alone, so delegates practise lifting, lowering and team handling with feedback from the trainer.
Yes. On-site delivery using your own trolleys, cages, tools and typical loads makes the training directly transferable to the day job and is popular with warehouses and manufacturers.
Prices for manual handling training vary by location, group size and whether you book a public date or an in-company course. Where live dates are shown at the top of this page, the price against each date is the full cost of a place. Otherwise send an enquiry from this page and we will come back within one working day with options and pricing.
Yes. Manual handling training works well delivered to a whole team at once, on site or at a venue near you, and in-company delivery is often the cheapest way to train several people. Request a quote through our <a href="/for-employers/">employer booking page</a>, with purchase order support included.
The course runs on demand as well as on any public dates shown at the top of this page. Send an enquiry with your preferred timing and location and we will confirm available options within one working day.

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