SENTIVO CONSULTANCY
SEN-HSE-07 / Health protection

Manual handling & task design

Workers and supervisors who lift, carry, push or pull loads

Discuss this course →English master · Awareness · v2.0
PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

What learners will practise.

  • Assess task, load, environment and individual factors.
  • Select ways to avoid or reduce hazardous handling.
  • Recognise when to stop, use an aid or seek a different method.
  • Apply the course decisions to a worked case and justify a response to the capstone.
  • Record control evidence, responsible roles and stop/escalation conditions in the workplace worksheet.

Inside the course

Try the slide experience →

  1. Start with a real decision
  2. Outcomes and limits
  3. How the learning works
  4. The decision map
  5. M1 · Handling is more than lifting
  6. Observe the whole handling cycle
  7. Avoid a universal safe-weight rule
  8. Exercise 1 · Handling is more than lifting
  9. M2 · Avoid and redesign first
  10. Remove unnecessary movement
  11. Evaluate the aid in its environment
  12. Exercise 2 · Avoid and redesign first
  13. M3 · Assess the actual operation
  14. Use a structured task observation
  15. Include visibility and instability
  16. Exercise 3 · Assess the actual operation
  17. M4 · Use controlled movement
  18. Plan the destination before movement
  19. Respond to resistance and loss of control
  20. Exercise 4 · Use controlled movement
  21. M5 · Aids and team coordination
  22. Coordinate a team as one movement
  23. Check pushing and pulling demands
  24. Exercise 5 · Aids and team coordination
  25. M6 · Report early and improve the task
  26. Use discomfort as feedback
  27. Verify that the redesign worked
  28. Exercise 6 · Report early and improve the task
  29. Worked case · establish the facts
  30. Worked case · select and verify controls
  31. Worked case · maintain control
  32. Capstone · defend your decision
  33. Capstone · respond to a change
  34. Workplace job aid
  35. Local adaptation and references
  36. Assessment and transfer commitment
A SAMPLE OF THE APPROACH

Start with understanding.

Manual handling includes lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, pulling and supporting loads. Injury risk depends on the whole task, not weight alone. Repetition, awkward posture, unstable loads and individual factors matter. There is no single weight that is safe for every person and every situation.

Then make a decision.

A worker moves identical cartons repeatedly from floor level to a high shelf. Each carton seems manageable, but the task lasts two hours. The route narrows around waste bins. The worker reports back discomfort.

Discuss: What are the facts, what could go wrong, and what must be verified before proceeding?

Make it specific to your workplace.

  • Actual loads, frequencies, routes and individual requirements
  • Available handling aids and user training
  • Reporting and occupational-health support arrangements

Before deployment, confirm these details with the client’s responsible technical reviewer. The course is a starting point for awareness learning, not a replacement for approved work procedures.

Technical reference basis

Reference review: 2026-10-24. HSE references concern Great Britain; OSHA references concern the United States. They are used for general safety principles, not presented as local law. No regulator endorsement or external accreditation is claimed.