A Complete Guide to Manual Handling Safety & Training

Manual handling injuries create ripple effects throughout your organization.

Yes, they take a toll on the health and well-being of the affected worker, but the damage doesn't stop there.

These incidents slow down operations and drain your employees’ productivity and morale. Plus, resources that could fuel growth end up covering sick leave or compensation.

The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) reports that manual handling is one of the leading causes of musculoskeletal disorders, especially back pain. These injuries account for thousands of lost workdays every year and continue to hurt organizations across every sector.

That’s why proper manual handling training is critical. It equips your employees with the skills and techniques to protect themselves from injury and work more efficiently.

To help, I’ve put together a comprehensive article with actionable information that you can take back and implement right away.

Table of Contents

• What is Manual Handling?
• A Real-Life Manual Handling Training Example
• What to Include in Manual Handling Training
• 7 Steps to Conduct Manual Handling Training
• 5 Templates to Use for Manual Handling Training
• 3 Manual Handling Procedure Certificate Templates
• Measuring the Effectiveness of Manual Handling Training
• Legal & Compliance Requirements to Consider
• Challenges & Solutions in Manual Handling Training
• Manual Handling FAQs

What is Manual Handling?

Manual handling refers to any activity requiring the use of force exerted by a person.

Specific manual handling actions include lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, moving, holding or restraining an object, person or animal.

In some cases, workers have direct contact with the object, person or animal they’re handling. But, more often than not, they have access to manual handling aids like trolleys, conveyor belts, pulleys, wheelchairs and many more.

That said, the fact that they’re using aids doesn’t mean that it’s not manual handling anymore. As long as they’re using their body to do the action, it’s considered manual handling.

Safety experts often remind us that manual handling training is about more than physical techniques:

“Manual handling is not just about strength — it’s about strategy. Save your back. Use your brain. Safety isn’t heavy, injuries are.” -Nidhija Prabhakaran from the HSE Training center, 

This video from an Australian safety firm does a great job of explaining manual handling.

Manual Handling Training vs. Safety Induction

Manual handling training and safety induction are not the same thing. In fact, manual handling training is actually part of a safety induction.

A Real-Life Manual Handling Training Example

Manual handling training and techniques can have positive or negative impacts depending on the employer’s involvement and care.

I’ve gathered two real-life examples, one negative and one positive, to illustrate the value of proper manual handling training.

Case Study 1: Maritime Engine Part Incident

SKULD, a maritime insurance company, shared this case study of an incident reported to their club to help clients understand the risk related to improper training on manual handling.

How the incident took place

1. Two ship crew members were tasked to move a 250kg engine spare part from the engine room to the wet deck.
2. Two crew members pushed the engine part together over even ground.
3. They then attempted manual lifting with four crew members to go over an uneven area while traversing an open door.
4. One worker felt his back "snap" during the lift but continued the task nevertheless.
5. The crew member was then unable to work for the remainder of the voyage.

What failed:

• There was no systematic risk assessment by a supervisor or the workers.
• The lack of proper supervision and safety protocols.
• Attempting manual handling of a hefty load (250kg) without machinery or ergonomic aids.

Financial impact:

• The worker sued the company and won a claim of $583,000.

What can you learn from this case study?

• Lack of training leads to preventable injuries and significant costs.
• Supervisors must conduct toolbox talks and risk assessments for manual handling actions that are new or don’t fit an already established system.
• Risk assessments are crucial before any manual handling task.
• Workers should never attempt to lift loads beyond safe limits without the use of ergonomic or mechanical aids.
• Proper supervision and safety protocols are essential.
• The cost of claims far exceeds investment in proper training and equipment.

Case Study: Kuehne+Nagel Transforms Logistics Operations

Logistics company TAWI manufactures vacuum lifting machinery to help different industries improve their manual handling techniques.

One of their standout success stories is with Kuehne+Nagel in France.

TAWI solutions were implemented on the workfloor, resulting in several improvements in terms of health and safety.

The challenge

Before implementation, workers were using manual handling for heavy packages, causing physical strain and fatigue. The issues went deeper:

• Single operators were unable to handle large packages on their own.
• Performance levels were unpredictable, affecting facility efficiency.
• High physical demands were limiting workforce autonomy.

The solution

TAW implemented the tech at their facility along with training for all workers. These are the actions that took place:

• The TAWI team conducted extensive focus groups with team members and managers to identify areas for improvement.
• They integrated four TAWI vacuum lifting solutions, with plans to scale to a total of 12 units.
• Floor-mounted overhead crane systems were installed for box handling (15-100 kg capacity).
• A 16-month staged deployment approach was conducted, including research, testing, and training.
• There was close collaboration between the implementation team and workers to optimize the workspace.

What changed after implementation?

• Single operators now handle large packages independently.
• Box handling time reduced to 1 minute per package.
• Employees maintain constant energy levels throughout shifts.
• Improved resource allocation and operational predictability.
• Enhanced workforce autonomy and job satisfaction.
• Improved employee health and safety and increased productivity.

What can you learn from this case study?

• Employee consultation through focus groups identifies effective solutions. Use Visme’s Feedback Forms to ask the right questions and identify areas where gaps exist concerning manual handling in your organization.
• Technology integration can eliminate manual handling risks while improving efficiency.
• Staged implementation allows for optimization and workforce adaptation.
• Smart lifting solutions provide benefits for both productivity and safety.
• Worker satisfaction increases when physical strain is reduced without compromising job autonomy.

This is Tawi’s video about the case study:

What to Include in Manual Handling Training

The details in manual handling training differ according to industry, process and situation. But there is a framework you should follow regardless of your purpose.

These are the non-negotiables you must include in your manual handling training.

I’ve used a package delivery service as an example to explain how this works.

1. Specification of manual handling necessities for your industry or scenario.

The first thing to include in the training is the exact, specific, and safe manual handling techniques your employees will use while performing their job.

Using the package delivery service example, here’s what would fall under this scope:

This industry-specific approach is crucial because generic training often falls short. As real estate entrepreneur Erik Wright learned through experience,

"No generic training videos and theoretical discussions of lifting technique will suffice because every workplace presents unique challenges, weight configurations, space constraints, and material handling requirements that influence the application of proper technique."

2. Risk assessment instructions.

Next, explain the instructions and importance of assessing risk before any manual handling. Use the AAAR Framework to direct these decisions. They are Avoid, Assess and Adjust (Reduce).

For a package delivery service, the risk assessment typically occurs at the time of delivery. And this is how it should go:

• Avoid: The first step is to try and avoid direct manual handling altogether, unless, of course, it’s such a small parcel that it doesn’t even apply. However, on the other hand, the person delivering the parcels might notice that they need to hand over several different-sized parcels to one location. To avoid excessive strain from direct manual handling, they’ll decide to use their wheeled trolley instead of carrying the packages by hand.
• Assess: If direct manual handling can’t be avoided for whatever reason, assess the object before handling it. Evaluate package weight, size, delivery location access and environmental conditions. For example, once the wheeled trolley is pushed to the apartment building lobby,  is the package too large for the elevator? If so, does it fit up the stairs? If neither is feasible, can the package be minimized by disassembling it?
• Adjust or Reduce: After assessing, it’s time to adjust or reduce.  For example, I recently had an IKEA sofa delivered, but it didn’t fit the elevator or the stairs. So, the workers adjusted. With my permission, they opened the package and brought the parts up to my floor separately.

3. Instructions for the proper handling of objects or machinery.

At this stage, it’s time to offer workers the actual techniques for correct manual handling that will keep them safe while avoiding strain.

For a package delivery scenario, you’ll teach these techniques:

Hands-on practice with actual materials cannot be overstated. Wright emphasizes this point:

"One thing you cannot leave out of manual handling training is the inclusion of physical demonstrations using the actual equipment and materials your personnel will be working with daily."

This is why simulation training using real workplace materials produces better safety outcomes than theoretical instruction alone.

4. Description of risks associated with improper manual handling and how they can happen.

First, share with them how injuries can occur, and then demonstrate the types of injuries that can happen.

These are some of the risk factors involved with package delivery services:

Immediately after, explain the actual risks of injury, such as:

Real-world examples will effectively illustrate this point. Wright's construction team experienced exactly these types of injuries when they relied on generic training:

"One team member hurt his back by rolling a cast iron bath down narrow stairs, another injured his shoulder by lifting rubbish into our disposal units, and a third acquired repetitive strain injuries through improper use of sledgehammers when demolishing."

5. Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Requirements.

You’ll need to provide PPE for your workers (or offer solutions for them to easily acquire it) and demonstrate how to use and maintain it properly. Explain that it’s mandatory to use all provided PPE at all times while they’re working. This is important for both safety and legal reasons.

These are the PPE items that package delivery workers might need:

6. Emergency Procedures for Accidents

Your training program must also include emergency procedures for potential accidents. Hopefully, they won’t happen, but your workers must always know what to do and who to call.

For the package delivery workers, they’d need to:

7. Tips for Keeping a Healthy and Strong Body.

Finally, it’s good practice to share wellness tips with your employees so that they can take care of their bodies beyond the time they spend at work. This isn’t a mandatory regulation, but including it shows that you care about your employees. Offering gym memberships or even an in-house gym would help them even more.

When I asked personal trainer Bart Konings about this, he explained that the biggest risks appear when the body is weaker than the job demands.

“Lifting and pushing heavy objects requires strength and stability. There will be circumstances where you have to be in unnatural and poor positions where being able to use a correct lifting technique is not possible,” Bart said.

That’s the reality on any shop floor. No matter how much training someone has, there are moments when perfect technique isn’t an option—awkward angles, tight spaces, or unpredictable loads. And that’s when injuries happen.

“When the demand and forces working on the body are higher than your ability, stability, strength or technique, injuries can happen, especially in the lower spine,” he explained. “Keeping the core engaged and the spine neutral while lifting heavy objects resists ‘shear forces’ on the spine and protects against lower back injuries.”

I like how he frames the core not just as muscles, but as a stabilizing system. He uses a simple analogy to explain it:

“Think of your core as a soda can. The strength comes from its shape. The top and bottom of the can must stay flat and parallel, and the wall around it has to stay smooth and unbroken. If there’s a hole or dent in the side, it will lose its strength.”

That visual reference makes it easy to understand why building strength matters. A stable core is like an intact soda can; it can withstand pressure. A weak one just collapses.

Bart also stressed that exercises targeting the core and surrounding muscles are key, and they don’t have to happen only at work. Check out his Instagram video to see how you can incorporate them into your daily life.

“There are some effective exercises that can help you strengthen your ability to engage the core and the muscles around the joints and spine. These will be beneficial for resilience in both everyday life and during more demanding work. Practicing how to lift with correct technique can also be done at home, making sure the right muscles are doing the work when moving an object.”

That said, he warned against relying on bodyweight drills alone. If you don’t challenge the muscles with resistance, you won’t be ready for the heavy demands of manual handling.

“However, if you do not include exercises with weights, you will probably still be underprepared and lack the ability to effectively engage the core and muscles correctly to protect your joints when doing demanding work with heavy objects,” he told me. “Therefore, I would strongly advise practicing lifting weights with a good technique and proper core engagement.”

And his final takeaway is one everyone should heed, whether you’re a delivery driver, warehouse worker, or office staff:

“I would advise anybody who wants to grow old with a functional and resilient body to include some form of resistance training in their routine!”

7 Steps to Conduct Manual Handling Training

Let’s take a look at how to conduct manual handling training for employees.
Regardless of whether you’re the one doing the training or if you’re working with a professional trainer, these are the steps for conducting manual handling training in your workplace.

You’ll need to prepare training videos with handouts and other materials. Therefore, I have also included these steps.

Step 1: Identify Training Needs and Objectives

What exactly do your employees need to handle, and under what conditions and circumstances? It’s at this intersection that you find the needs and objectives for your training program.

This step is crucial because a proper training needs analysis ensures your program targets the real gaps rather than delivering generic, one-size-fits-all sessions.

Regardless of the industry or situation, there are a few things you can do to deduce needs and objectives:

• Conduct a risk assessment to determine what can be optimized for both productivity and safety.
• Read our article on SMART training goals to help you with this step.
• Review past incident report of injuries, near-misses and sick-leave records to see what has caused problems in the past and track any patterns.
• Observe how employees are doing manual handling at present, and take notes.
• Hold focus groups with employees or ask them to fill in quick surveys. Their personal opinions are worth a lot and can help you see things you might have missed.
• Use systems such as the Avoid, Assess, Adjust (or Reduce) Framework or the Manual Handling Assessment Charts MAC and Risk Assessment of Pushing and Pulling RAPP Tools.

Let’s use the sports industry as an example. Your training goals and objectives should answer this question: What should athletes, coaches and assistants walk away doing differently? For example, your training objective could equip them to:

• Assess risk before conducting a manual handling action. Even if it’s a familiar task, conditions like weather, overcrowding, and equipment placement can change the risk profile.
• Safely move equipment to and from the field and on the field.
• Transport injured  athletes without causing further harm
• Load and unload transport trucks for away games in a safe manner and with proper lifting aids.
• Use mobile aids like wheeled carts and mechanical truck beds to avoid direct manual handling.
• Store equipment safely and for easy access.

The same approach applies in other sectors: healthcare teams focus on patient transfers, warehouse workers on parcel handling or construction crews on irregular loads.

The cost of getting this wrong can be significant.

Wright learned this lesson when his team suffered three injury incidents in just six weeks, all because "the generic training had not covered the specific topics of working within tight spaces with irregular shapes, setting up lifting activities between multiple individuals, or modifying techniques for demolition equipment." 

A thorough training needs assessment would have flagged these gaps early.

Step 2: Choose a Training Format and Content Types

Depending on your specific needs and situation, select a training format and the accompanying content types that best suit your requirements.

Here’s a table that will help you figure out the best combination.

For our manual handling training directed at coaches and assistants, an ideal option would be in-person training that includes a presentation and live demonstrations/simulations, accompanied by a printed PDF for distribution.

Step 3: Write or Source the Content

The meat of the training is the content you share and explain to the attendees. In many cases, this content already exists in regulatory guidelines,  instructions and other training programs.

Take a look at this example of a company’s training presentation for package delivery manual handling. There are many resources like this available online.

Source

All you need to do is customize it for your training style, and then verify it against relevant regulations and compliance directives.

If there is no existing content for your training needs, you’ll have to write it yourself or hire a professional in manual handling.

Wright learned this lesson firsthand and now creates his own tailored materials:

"I create training aids that utilize a combination of video recording equipment and PowerPoint. I record proper body positioning for all types of materials we work with on a regular basis, create step-by-step procedures with pictures showing proper body positioning, and provide supervisors' checklists to verify technique on the job."

This approach ensures the content matches his team's exact needs. If you hired a professional to support your training, they’ll have their own content to share with your team. Coordinate with them to make the content as comprehensive as possible to reflect the manual handling actions that your workers will have to do.

For those of you creating content for your training program, here are some tips:

• If you’re making a presentation for an in-person session, organize the content so that each slide explains one idea or topic. Don’t overload the slides with text and leave space for plenty of visuals. Visme’s presentation templates provide a strong foundation from which to build.
• For a video, write a script that covers all the information in an easy-to-follow and relatable way. You can either record someone teaching the information, ideally demonstrating things visually, or you can use Visme’s AI text-to-speech to create a voiceover that explains the visuals in the video. Alternatively, use Visme’s Presenter Studio to record yourself explaining what’s on the slide in detail.
• Create digital manuals with interactive features like video popups, animated instructions and quizzes. Create these with Visme and share them with a link or embed on your website. When you do so, the update to the manual inside Visme will be reflected everywhere you have embedded or shared it. All it needs is a quick tap on the refresh button in the browser.

Step 4: Create or Source the Visuals

Aside from the textual or spoken content, you’ll most definitely need visuals ranging from simple photographs to videos and in-person simulations. Gather all the necessary materials for presentations and manuals before you begin compiling the content. Visme offers a media library where you can store and organize all your media assets, making them easily accessible and ready to use.

These are some of the visuals you’d need for the athletic coaches and assistants' training program:

• Diagrams showing proper lifting techniques for sports equipment (weights, mats, goal posts).
• Photo demonstrations of safe methods for moving and stacking bleachers or portable seating.
• Video tutorials on correct posture when lifting athletes during spotting or assistance.

If you don’t have your own visuals, access the extensive stock photo and video library in your Visme editor to support the training content. Use the search bar to find what you’re looking for. I don’t recommend you use the AI image generator for safety visuals; keep that tool for other decorative images that elevate your training resource.

Step 5: Choose a Template and Put it all Together

This step and the next are for the creation of visual elements like videos, manuals, infographics or presentations that you’ll use as part of the training. You can start with one of the templates in the section below.

The athletic coach and assistants' manual handling training program might use a presentation as part of the discussion. However, you may need a printable manual, or if you’re in the ideation stage, a plan document.

These instructions will guide you regardless of the exact type of content you’re working on. Log in to Visme and enter the dashboard. Here you have a few choices:

1. Search for a template by inputting “manual handling training” in the search bar. Browse the results to select the one that best fits your vision. Open the template in the editor and start adding your content in the placeholders. If you need more or fewer pages, the toolbar on the right helps you with that.
2. Click the + Create button and open a blank template in the desired dimensions. Use the pre-built content blocks to lay out the slides or pages and then add your content and visuals into the composition.
3. Use Visme’s AI Document Generator to create your manual handling materials faster. In the prompt window, upload your completed written content and a prompt explaining what you need (a manual, a plan, a certificate), and the AI will use that content to build the layout.

Step 6: Customize, Personalize

Once you’ve added all the content into the document or presentation, it’s time to customize and personalize it so it matches your brand guidelines and visual identity. If you haven’t already, use the Brand Wizard with your website URL and create a brand kit within your Visme workspace.

First, personalize the colors from the template to match your brand colors. Either do it by hand or build a few branded color themes inside your Brand Area.

Regarding text and background, ensure that it’s legible by keeping the background light and the text dark; this creates good contrast and helps with accessibility. It doesn’t necessarily need to be black and white; it can be a very dark version of one of your colors over a very light version of another color. Adjust the intensity inside the color picker in the editor.

To change the fonts, select one piece of text and choose your brand font and toggle the option to change all the text in the project.

Invite team members and stakeholders into the Visme workspace to collaborate on creating and reviewing the document or presentation. Share permission for them to access the work in progress and leave comments, feedback or instructions.

Utilize our workflow management feature to assign specific tasks to individuals, ensuring they don’t miss them when contributing or reviewing.

Step 7: Finalize and Distribute, Download or Share

Once all is approved and ready to go, proofread it one more time and get ready to share and publish it. With Visme, you have several options depending on how and where you’ll be conducting the training. I’ll list them here so you can choose:

1. Share the material through a link with both stakeholders and employees. This option is ideal if you created an interactive document or presentation with hotspots, popups, animations, videos and narrated explanations.
2. Embed the project into a webpage on your site. This works great if you have a library of safety training manuals and other material accessible to all employees. Also, all interactivity will be preserved.
3. Download all materials as SCORM or xAPI files for easy upload to your learning management system.
4. Send the materials to other apps using Visme’s integrations like Hubspot, Dropbox, Google Drive, Monday.com and Slack.
5. Project the presentation directly from your Visme account in the room where the training is taking place. To be safe, download it as an HTML5 file in case the WIFI isn’t good in that location.
6. Print out the document or presentation and hand it out to attendees. Leave blank areas for notes so they can write down any extra information they want to remember. Printing out is also practical if you need to conduct a written assessment after the training.

Step 8: Conduct The Training

Get everything ready to receive the group of attendees. Test the projector, screen or computer. Print what needs printing and put up any manual handling posters or materials for reference.

For simulations, collect all the physical items you’ll need and keep them aside. Ensure you have all the necessary PPE to demonstrate its proper use.

If you’ll be conducting the training online, ensure that your online connection is stable and that your camera is positioned well to show both your visual material and the demonstrations.

Welcome the group and conduct the training. Ensure that everyone can see the materials. Open the floor for questions and use the employees themselves for the demonstrations.

For maximum effectiveness, Wright recommends going beyond basic demonstrations:

"We rehearse lifting equipment, handling lumber in confined spaces, team lifting heavy equipment, and correct handling methods for construction and demolition equipment. New hires experience training simulations that mimic the actual conditions they will encounter."

5 Templates to Use for Manual Handling Training

Visme designers have created several templates to support your manual handling training strategies. To customize them, follow the steps in the section above.

Let’s take a look.

Manual Handling Training Program

This manual handling training document outlines essential principles, safety precautions, and best practices for manual handling of a hydraulic lift. It is designed for personnel in manufacturing, warehousing, automotive repair and any environment where hydraulic lifts are used.

Since the content in the template is generalized, you just have to customize it to be specifically about your company’s hydraulic lift. That way, you can include detailed instructions with visuals. For example, emergency procedures could include images of the exact button or lever that turns off the lift.

Likewise, on the page titled “Understanding Hydraulic Lift Systems,” include an anatomy infographic of a lift. And as supplemental material, a QR code that directs the reader to the lift’s user manual.

Manual Handling Training Plan

Scaffold pulleys are common manual handling aids. You see them in construction, renovations and any situation in which a team of workers would need to move tools and materials from a low level to a higher level. Even if a scaffold pulley alleviates the strain on workers during manual handling, it’s still a tool they need to learn to use.

In fact, it’s still called manual handling. This training plan template is a guide for workers to understand how the scaffold pulley works, what the risks are and how to assess them, plus the essential techniques to function it properly and safely.

Are you wondering how you can make this training manual even better? Here’s an idea. Add a page with a diagram that explains and visualizes the manual handling process for risk assessment, set up, use, disassembly and storage of a scaffold pulley. Alternatively, attach process documentation with a link or QR code.

Manual Handling Risk Assessment

Earlier, when I shared the steps to conduct a manual handling training program, I said that you must do a risk assessment first. This template is just what you need to do that. Each pre-designed section and page will help you put together an analysis report for your client, your company or your department.

The specific content in this template is about chain block operations, but it’s easy to change to another topic. To visualize analysis results, use Visme’s data visualization tools like data widgets, to show the level of risk of any manual handling action. Turn to page six on this template to see how good they look when the colors are aligned with the rest of the project.

Manual Handling Risk Assessment On Pager

This template is also a risk assessment report, but on a single page. One pager templates are handy to get information across to a team quickly.. Aside from adding this one-pager to the rest of the safety documentation for a gantry crane, print it, laminate it and put it up on a wall close to the crane.

Alternatively, save this assessment report as a QR code and print stickers to place on all gantry cranes being used in your company. The best part of this technique is that when the risk analysts update the one-pager, you don’t need to change the QR code at all.

Manual Handling Procedure Plan

This template is an ideal starting point for a manual handling training document for nurses, doctors and staff at a hospital. It covers an overview of definitions, responsibilities, risk assessment and ongoing training.

Use this pre-designed document as the foundation for a set of detailed manual handling training documents. One for each group of employees (nurses, doctors, orderlies, admin staff). Visme’s Dynamic fields are the perfect tool for this situation. Add dynamic fields for content that repeats throughout documents and across versions. This way, you only need to change the exact content in the dynamic field settings and it will populate on all the content that includes that field.

2 Manual Handling Procedure Certificate Templates

Visme offers several certificate templates, including some designed for manual handling training. Use one of them, or try the AI Printable Maker to select any design and customize it to your needs and specifics.

Manual Handling Safety Training Certificate

Once your employees have completed the manual handling training, provide them with a certificate of completion as proof that they have successfully acquired all the necessary information to conduct their job effectively and safely. This template is ready to be customized with your company details and the employees’ names.

Manual Handling Training Certificate

Create a safety training certificate that incorporates your brand's assets, including fonts and colors, to ensure a consistent visual identity. This template is already designed with all the content placeholders you’ll need, so all you have to do is customize and personalize.

This is another instance where dynamic fields can help. Add all the content that repeats across all certificates as dynamic fields, for example, the date, the company name, the training instructor and the type of training program.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Manual Handling Training

Just as it’s important to train employees on proper manual handling, it’s also crucial to conduct regular check-ins to measure effectiveness.

Here are some ideas:

• Observe how they’re working on any regular day.
• Use analytic checklists for annotating your observations and finding gaps and trends.
• Conduct focus groups with employees to ask questions about the training they received, and if they feel something is missing.

Visme Forms has resources to help you with this process. Take a look at this evaluation form, specially designed to measure training effectiveness.

And here’s a manual lifting analysis checklist template you can incorporate into your processes. You’ll need to customize it for your own situation, such as machinery or uniquely shaped materials.

Use the results to assess what techniques your employees need to retrain or relearn. This checklist will help.

Safe Lifting Technique Checklist:

Made with Visme

Legal & Compliance Requirements to Consider

Aside from keeping your employees safe while handling manually, there are also legal and compliance requirements to consider. Organizations like OSHA in the US, HSE in the UK and CCOHS in Canada provide specific guidelines on their websites and through detailed documentation.

Connect with the health and safety organization in your country and follow all their guidelines and regulations. Likewise, also research the guidelines for your state or county because there might be special details you need to know.

Always subscribe to their newsletters and updates so you never miss any changes or adaptations to the rules.

Challenges & Solutions in Manual Handling Training

With so many different types of workplaces and people in them, challenges can easily arise when planning or conducting manual handling training.

I’ve listed some of the possible challenges you might face and included solution ideas to help you overcome each particular hurdle. Some of the solutions you might not be able to conduct on your own and will need the company you work for to take care of them.

Manual Handling FAQs

Create a Safe Manual Handling Culture with Visme

Effective manual handling training is an investment in your workforce's long-term health and your organization's operational excellence. Companies that implement comprehensive manual handling programs see dramatic reductions in workplace injuries while improving productivity and employee satisfaction.

The key lies in creating job-specific, hands-on training programs that address the unique manual handling situations your employees encounter daily. This means moving beyond theoretical discussions to practical demonstrations using actual workplace equipment and materials.

Your manual handling safety program must engage employees while also staying compliant. That’s why you need the right creation tools.  Visme enables you to develop visual, interactive training content that turns abstract concepts into actionable guidance.

Ready to transform your organization’s manual handling training? Explore Visme's training and development solutions to create safer, more effective workplace programs.

Written by Orana Velarde

Orana has been a writer for Visme since 2018, covering topics like design, visual marketing, data visualization and visual content creation. Orana has a background in graphic and web design, makeup artistry for film and theater and ongoingly takes courses on digital marketing, UI/UX and other related topics. See Orana’s work at www.oranavelarde.com.