After handling and moving a person

Post-move review

The following list provides details of what to include in a review.

• Re-assess whether the person’s ability to help with a move has changed.
• If the move did not go well, lodge relevant reports, for example, incident and near-miss reports or notifiable incidents, and provide feedback.
• Complete a debrief. Provide feedback to the care team. Include what worked well, what didn’t work and opportunities to improve.
• Update care plans with assessment details.
• Put mechanical aids and assistive devices back in storage. Put rechargeable equipment on charge.
• Service and launder the mechanical aid or assistive device used.
• Report damaged or broken items and remove from service.
• For people with complex needs or health conditions:
  • regularly review mechanical aid and assistive device requirements
  • include necessary multidisciplinary professionals in assessments.

Monitoring controls and conditions in the workplace

Monitoring and maintaining risk controls ensures they continue to control risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

The following actions are critical as part of a hazardous manual handling program. They include preventative maintenance to ensure risk control measures remain effective and appropriate.

• Monitor people-handling needs across the organisation to determine requirements for delivery of care. This includes the following.
  • Environment. For example:
    • the number of rooms with enough space and furniture to care for people of size
    • people who require multiple caregivers to help with moving.
  • Systems of work. For example, monitor:
    • rosters and adjust them as people-handling needs change
    • availability and suitability of risk controls
    • use of risk controls.
  • Procurement of mechanical aids and equipment.
• Regularly check rooms, including bathrooms, where people-handling tasks occur. Ensure the rooms are free from obstructions and slip hazards, and have suitable equipment installed.
• Regularly check routes for mechanical aids and assistive devices. Ensure they are free from obstructions.
• Regularly inspect and maintain mechanical aids and assistive devices to make sure they work. This includes inspections of less-frequently used items, spare batteries, charging stations and storage facilities.
• Regularly monitor the type, number and frequency of people moving in the organisation and the mechanical aids and assistive devices available at peak times. Adjust the type and number of mechanical aids and assistive devices as requirements change.
• Regularly review maintenance records to keep track of the period between a maintenance request and a repair.
• Regularly review maintenance records and adjust procurement to ensure reliable equipment is available.
• Regularly consult with employees on the adequacy of risk controls.
• Regularly consult with people who need to be handled or moved on the adequacy of risk controls.
• Regularly review care plans and mobility assessments so they reflect the needs of people being moved.
• Review the quality of risk assessments to make sure they meet expectations.
• Increase staffing if people-handling needs change and increase.
• Regularly provide information, instruction and training. Review to make sure they reflect best practice.
• Continuously assess leaders, people in control of work and employee competence to make sure employees understand how to:
  • safely do their tasks
  • use the right mechanical aid or assistive device.

Reviewing and revising risk controls

Employers must review risk controls and revise them if necessary. Employers must review risk controls in the following circumstances.

• Before any alteration to any thing used in a workplace or any system of work. This includes a change in the place where the transfer of people is done.
• If new or additional information about the transfer of people or hazardous manual handling becomes available. This can include:
  • new guidance material
  • new industry standards
  • improvement notices.
• If musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) at a workplace are reported by, or on behalf of, an employee.
• After a notifiable incident occurs.
• If, for any other reason, the risk control measures do not adequately control the risks.
• After a health and safety representative (HSR) requests a review.

An HSR may request a review if they believe on reasonable grounds that:

• any of the circumstances listed above exists
• the employer has failed to:
  • properly review the risk control measures
  • take account of any of the above circumstances in reviewing or revising the risk control measures.

Employers should also review controls following requests by manual handling coordinators, occupational health and safety (OHS) coordinators and managers.

Evaluating risk control measures

Measuring the effectiveness of risk control measures should be a part of a risk management strategy. This helps employers improve strategies to reduce MSD associated with the transfer of people.

Because injuries from hazardous manual handling are complex, it is important to use multiple sources to evaluate the risk controls. The following sources may be useful.

• Consultation with HSRs and employees who do work involving hazardous manual handling.
• A review of the system of work, including the following.
  • Surveys for measuring MSD levels in employees, for example, a pain and discomfort survey.
  • Surveys for measuring exposure to psychosocial hazards and the psychological wellbeing of employees.
  • A review of MSD incident reports, investigation findings and recommendations.
  • Any difference between reported and non-reported MSD.
  • Employee compliance with safe work instructions and mechanical aid use.
  • Employees’ education completion, competence and skill in people-handling.
  • Employee absences, employees on reduced capacity and employee turnover rate due to MSD.
  • Surveys of people who have been handled and moved to evaluate quality of care and perceptions of people-handling. For example, did the person experience any fear or discomfort while being handled? Did the person not ask for help as there were insufficient staff available?
  • A review of any injuries to people being moved or handled.

The Patient Handling Incident Review of Systems toolkit

The Patient Handling Incident Review of Systems (PHIRES) toolkit is based on a systems-thinking approach to preventing person-handling injuries. It is designed to help employers:

• review and, if necessary, revise risk controls after a people-handling injury
• focus on risk controls for the task, rather than the injured person
• consult with HSRs and employees
• identify more effective risk controls.

Find the PHIRES toolkit and more information on the WorkSafe website.

Related OHS information

Employers should also consider the OHS information outlined in the related guidance: