Safer People Moving and Handling

Face-to-Face Practical Training

Course overview

The Safer People Moving and Handling course provides practical, person-centred training for workers who assist people with movement, positioning, transfers and mobility in health, social care and community settings.

Moving and handling is part of everyday care, but poor practice can cause avoidable harm to the person receiving support and to the workers assisting them. Injuries may result from unsuitable techniques, rushed transfers, poor communication, incorrect equipment, environmental hazards, inadequate staffing or failure to follow the individual’s assessed moving and handling plan.

This course helps learners understand how to prepare for moving and handling activities, recognise risks, communicate effectively, use safer working principles and participate in supervised practical exercises.

The emphasis is not simply on completing a transfer. Learners are encouraged to protect the person’s safety, dignity, comfort, choice and independence throughout the activity.

The Health and Safety Executive identifies moving and handling as a major part of health and social care work and warns that poor practice can cause injury to both workers and people receiving care. Employers are expected to avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable, assess activities that cannot be avoided and reduce the remaining risk.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for workers who may assist people with movement or positioning, including:

1. Care assistants
2. Healthcare assistants
3. Support workers
4. Domiciliary care workers
5. Residential and nursing home staff
6. Hospital and community healthcare staff
7. Registered nurses requiring refresher training
8. Personal assistants
9. Rehabilitation and therapy support workers
10. Agency and bank staff
11. New starters entering a care-related role
12. Workers returning to practice
13. Staff whose responsibilities include mobility support or handling equipment

The course may also support organisations that need structured induction, refresher or practical moving and handling training for their workforce.

Learners must only carry out moving and handling activities that are within their role, training, assessed ability and employer authorisation.

Course aim

The aim of this course is to develop the learner’s knowledge, judgement and practical awareness so that they can assist people to move more safely while reducing avoidable risks to themselves, the person and others.

The course promotes a balanced approach that avoids two dangerous extremes:

1. Attempting unsafe manual lifting because equipment or assistance is not immediately available
2. Removing a person’s independence by automatically doing everything for them

Safer practice means providing the right level of assistance, using the person’s abilities wherever possible and following their current care plan, risk assessment and agreed method of support.

What the course covers

1. Understanding people moving and handling

2. Why injuries happen

3. Legal and organisational responsibilities

4. Person-centred moving and handling

5. Care plans and moving and handling assessments

6. Assessing the immediate situation

7. Preparing the environment

8. Principles of safer movement

9. Supporting independence

10. Common moving and handling equipment

11. Practical activities

12. Unsafe practices and prohibited shortcuts

13. Falls and unexpected deterioration

14. Reporting and recording

Learning outcomes

After successful completion, learners should be better prepared to:

1. Approach moving and handling activities systematically
2. Follow person-specific moving and handling plans
3. Identify foreseeable hazards before beginning
4. Protect the person’s dignity and independence
5. Communicate effectively with the person and colleagues
6. Apply safer movement and posture principles
7. Use selected equipment within the boundaries of their training
8. Recognise when equipment or assistance is unsuitable
9. Stop and escalate unsafe activities
10. Report changes, defects and concerns appropriately
11. Participate more safely in workplace moving and handling activities

Successful course completion demonstrates learning achieved during the training session. It does not confirm competence for every individual, workplace, technique or item of equipment.