At their recent Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) Summit, the HSE urged businesses to review their approach to manual handling, stating that simplistic and “off the shelf” training courses are “a waste of time and money” and do nothing to reduce risk.
Instead, to address the 9 million working days lost to MSDs last year, the HSE have recommended taking a holistic approach, starting with reorganising and redesigning working practices, before looking at training requirements, to ensure manual handling processes are truly tailored to the needs of the workforce.
Health and work portfolio manager Geoff Cox said: “This needs to be customised and professionally delivered. Any such training should be based on observations of current working practices and should be informed by the views and experience of the workforce.”
At Mentor, we’ve consistently emphasised the need for relevant training, based around workers’ day-to-day tasks, as the most effective way of reducing the risk of serious injuries on site, and offered tailored alternatives to generic manual handling courses.
We offer a range of packages to suit varying staff needs. All of our manual handling courses include training scenarios that use companies’ own loads and working environments to help delegates apply what they’ve learned. We’ve even worked with companies to develop bespoke courses that cover their specific applications.
In our experience, the more relevant the training, the more engaging it is for delegates and the more effective it is for your business. For further guidance on how tailored manual handling training can benefit you, click here or call 01246 555222.
