Manual Handling training expert,Dr Alistair Bromhead,
offers some tips on winning over your audience when
delivering manual handling training
Not everyone relishes the prospect
of 1 to 4 hours of manual
handling traiManual Handling training expert,Dr Alistair Bromhead,
offers some tips on winning over your audience when
delivering manual handling training
Not everyone relishes the prospect
of 1 to 4 hours of manual
handling training! The trainees
will typically be forced to attend and will
have a selection of the following
thoughts in their heads:
"The company is only doing this to
protect themselves"
"What does the trainer know about my
job ? they've never done it!"
"I've heard it all before"
"I've not had an injury in the past 20
years, why do I need this training?
Consequently, trainers will often dread
the prospect of trying to educate, keep
awake and control a group of 10 people
who would rather be anywhere else! This
can make the experience even worse for
all concerned, as the trainer may convey a
lack of enthusiasm and confidence which
further reduces the will to live on the part
of the participants.
However, there are ways to make
manual handling training interesting and
beneficial for the trainee. A successful
course will also be stimulating and
enjoyable for the trainer. If this sounds
far-fetched, then read on?.
A key part of the successful manual
handling training is a trainer with suitable
knowledge, skills, experience and course
materials. Without these, the trainer will
quickly lose the confidence of the trainees.
All too often, manual handling training is
thought of as just being common sense ?
anyone can do it, all they need is a box
and a space to lift it. This has come to
mean that an awful lot of the information
which is touted as "good practice" is
nothing of the sort.
In order to engender a good knowledge
of supporting issues such as injuries,
anatomy, best practice, dynamic risk
assessments and how to bring these
together in an interactive manner, a
trainer really should consider attending a
manual handling instructor's course. For
example, the 2 day City & Guilds Manual
Handling Train the Trainer qualification
will provide all of the above along with
professional course materials ? thereby
greatly reducing wheel reinvention.
Once prepared, the trainer must also be
aware of, and be able to address, a range
of barriers which frequently hinder
successful manual handling training.
These will broadly fall into the following
categories:
Trainee barriers ? such as those listed
above
Trainer barriers ? lack of confidence,
knowledge or presentational ability
Organisational barriers ? failure of
budget holders to realise the benefits
leading to a reluctance to release staff
and a lack of attendance by
management
Once we know what the problems are, we
can start to address them. Trainee barriers
can typically be overcome by asking
attendees to think about the personal
benefits that the training can offer at work
and in their domestic life. Get them to list
why they bother getting up in the
morning (family, ability to earn,
socialising and sport etc) and then get
them to think of the implications for
these activities if they suffer a serious
handling injury such as a prolapsed disc.
Trainer barriers can be greatly reduced
through preparation. It is essential to be
confident with the structure and subject
matter. A manual handling trainer
training course can be invaluable in
providing templates, structure, ideas and
technical material. However, not all
courses are created equal.
Emphasising the business
benefits
One way to overcome organisational
barriers is to take senior management /
budget holders through the business
benefits of conducting the training such
as less time off work, legal compliance
and compensation reduction etc.
When it comes to delivering the
training, some of our top tips are:
Make it interactive and varied: the
trainer should only be speaking for short
periods with much of the session input
from the audience. If you have a group of
trainees that are used to undertaking
physical tasks, they will simply switch off
if you preach at them in the classroom
Relax and enjoy the training: if you
exhibit enthusiasm and confidence, this
will give the audience confidence in
what you say and will encourage them
to participate
Show them some surprising
experiments with their own bodies ?
this is a great way of learning! On the
City & Guilds Manual Handling Train
the Trainer course, we get them to
experience the impact of non-neutral
joint positions and the benefit of a
wider than shoulder width stance.
Use a digital camera for the practical
sessions ? the actual position which
people adopt for handling will often be
surprisingly different to what they
perceive it to be
Try to use actual loads from the
workplace
Do not view manual handling training
as a one-off exercise ? it is only a
starting point. You are not going to
radically change 30 years of ingrained
bad habits in a 30 minute session.
Dr Alistair Bromhead specialises in manual
handling issues and runs the City & Guilds
Manual Handling Train the Trainer programme.
