Manual Handling Course

What's Included

Your course fee includes everything needed for effective training:

• Course Materials - printed handouts covering safe lifting principles and risk assessment

• CPD-Accredited Certificate - Phoenix STS Training Certificate valid for 3 years

• Theory Session - anatomy of the spine, injury mechanics, legal framework, and risk assessment principles

• Practical Session - hands-on lifting exercises tailored to your workplace loads and tasks

• Individual Assessment - each participant assessed on safe handling technique by the instructor

• Workplace-Specific Adaptation - course content tailored to your industry, loads, and working environment

• Post-Course Email Support - direct access to your instructor for guidance after the course

• Renewal Reminder Service - we'll contact you before your 3-year certificate expires

What You'll Learn

The course covers four core areas, combining theory with practical skills.

Understanding Manual Handling Injuries

How the spine works, why back injuries happen, and the common causes of manual handling injuries at work. When you understand how injuries happen, you can prevent them.

Irish Compliance Context

Your duties under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the General Application Regulations 2007 (Chapter 4: Manual Handling of Loads). In plain terms, employers must avoid risky lifting where they can, assess what remains, and train their staff. The course covers employer duties, employee duties, and the hierarchy of control: avoid the lift first, reduce the risk next, and rely on technique last.

Risk Assessment

How to assess a handling task before you start. You check the Task, the Individual (your own capability), the Load, the Environment, and Other factors - known as TILEO. You then learn practical ways to spot and reduce risk.

Safe Handling Techniques

Correct posture and body movement for lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, and pulling. You also cover team lifts, mechanical aids, and how to adapt to different loads and conditions.

Learning Outcomes

On passing the course, you will be able to:

• Assess loads and handling tasks before starting work
• Use correct lifting techniques that cut the risk of back injury
• Understand how the spine works and how handling injuries happen
• Spot manual handling hazards in your workplace and act on them
• Comply with Irish safety duties under the 2005 Act and 2007 Regulations
• Use team lifts and mechanical aids where they are needed
• Apply safe manual handling principles to your own work tasks

Course Programme

The 3-hour programme is delivered as a single session, combining classroom theory with practical exercises.

Theory Component (Approx. 1 Hour)

• Welcome and course introduction
• Anatomy of the spine and how back injuries occur
• Common causes of manual handling injuries
• Legal framework: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005
• General Application Regulations 2007: Manual Handling of Loads
• Risk assessment principles for manual handling tasks
• The hierarchy of control for manual handling risks

Practical Component (Approx. 2 Hours)

• Instructor demonstration: correct lifting, lowering, carrying techniques
• Individual practice: safe lifting from floor, table, and shelf heights
• Team lifting and coordinated handling exercises
• Pushing, pulling, and load manipulation techniques
• Workplace-specific handling scenarios (tailored to your industry)
• Individual assessment: each participant demonstrates safe technique
• Course summary and certification information

Irish Compliance Context

Employers have clear legal duties on manual handling at work:

Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005

The 2005 Act requires employers to identify hazards, assess risks, and put protective measures in place. Section 8 gives employers a general duty to protect the safety, health, and welfare of their staff. That duty includes managing manual handling risks.

General Application Regulations 2007 - Chapter 4

The General Application Regulations 2007 (Chapter 4: Manual Handling of Loads) set out three clear duties for employers:

• avoid the need for manual handling where reasonably practicable
• assess any handling tasks that cannot be avoided
• reduce the risk of injury through training, mechanical aids, and safe systems of work

In plain terms, the employer must design the lifting out of the job where possible, and train staff for the lifting that remains.

Employer Obligations

Employers must provide manual handling training to every employee whose work involves handling tasks. Training must match the tasks performed and be refreshed at regular intervals. If an employer fails to do this, the HSA can take enforcement action, issue fines, or prosecute.

Assessment and Certification

The instructor assesses each participant during the practical session. Assessment covers safe lifting technique, correct posture, and risk assessment.

• Phoenix STS Training Certificate - issued on passing the course, valid for 3 years

• CPD Certificate - confirming CPD hours (CPD Standards Office, Provider No. 22657)

• Certificate Validity - 3 years from date of issue

• Refresher Training - required before expiry to maintain compliance

• Renewal Reminder - Phoenix STS will contact you before your certificate expires

Our Instructors

All Phoenix STS manual handling instructors are experienced professionals. They have delivered manual handling training across many industries. They hold memberships with recognised professional bodies:

• IOSH - Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
• IIESMS - Institute of Industrial Engineers and Safety Management Systems
• IIRSM - International Institute of Risk and Safety Management
• L&DI - Learning and Development Institute of Ireland

Qualifications include BSc Environmental Health and Safety Management, Higher Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, and QQI Level 6 Train the Trainer. All instructors complete regular CPD to stay current with legislation and best practice.

Further Reading

Read our guide on manual handling training in Ireland for a detailed explanation of the Irish safety duties, who needs training, and how to choose a provider.

Available Nationwide Across Ireland

Phoenix STS delivers the Manual Handling Course on-site at your premises anywhere in Ireland, and at scheduled public courses at our training centre in Longford.

We have delivered this course to organisations in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Athlone, Sligo, Dundalk, Longford, and locations across Ireland. On-site training costs the same flat rate wherever you are in Ireland.

Contact us for an on-site training quotation or call 043 334 9611.

Manual Handling Training and Real Workplace Risk

Training is only one control

Manual handling training is useful, but it should not be treated as the only control. Employers still need to avoid unnecessary manual handling where possible. They must assess the handling that remains, reduce risk through workplace design or aids, and supervise where the work demands it.

Practical technique has limits

A safe lifting demonstration does not make every load safe to lift. Weight, shape, distance, grip, frequency, floor condition, twisting, fatigue and the person's capability all matter. The course should help staff recognise when a lift should be changed, shared, delayed or raised with a supervisor rather than attempted.

Use the real work examples

Manual handling training should reflect the tasks people actually carry out. A healthcare setting, office store, delivery area, school, maintenance department and warehouse will each have different handling risks. The best results come when staff can connect the course to their own loads, routes and handling aids.

Records and refresher training

Keep training records and review them when tasks change, staff return from injury, incidents occur or new handling aids are introduced. Refresher training should be practical, not just a repeat of old slides.