Manual Handling Training for Aged Care Workers in the Northern Territory

Work health and safety in the Northern Territory

The Northern Territory adopted the model work health and safety laws from 1 January 2012, under legislation that carries 'National Uniform Legislation' in its name. NT WorkSafe administers it, and it lists both the Hazardous manual tasks code and the Healthcare and Social Assistance Industry code as approved codes of practice under section 274 of the Act.

Aged care in the Northern Territory includes remote community settings where equipment, building layout and staffing look nothing like a metropolitan facility. Knowing how to assess a task and when to stop matters more where the alternative support is hours away.

Aged care in the Northern Territory

The ABS lists Darwin as the youngest capital city by median age, but aged care in the Territory reaches well beyond the capital. Services operate in the major towns, from Darwin and Palmerston to Katherine and Alice Springs, and care is also delivered in remote communities and on homelands, where a home care round can mean long drives on unsealed roads.

In remote communities, aged care is delivered by local organisations, including regional councils, some of them funded through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program, which funds culturally safe care in an aged care home, in the person's own home or in the community. Services can include personal care, meals, domestic assistance, transport and respite. Houses in these settings were rarely built with hoists or wheelchairs in mind, and outings add vehicle transfers in heat and dust.

The Top End's wet season and Central Australia's extreme heat both change manual tasks: slippery surfaces, heavy rain during car transfers, and fatigue and dehydration on long shifts. Where a second worker, a spare sling or a hoist repair is hours or days away, the skills in Module 3, Identifying Hazardous Manual Tasks, and Module 8, Reporting, Incidents and Ongoing Safety, are what stop a worker from improvising.

What NT WorkSafe publishes on hazardous manual tasks

NT WorkSafe lists the Hazardous manual tasks code of practice and the Healthcare and Social Assistance Industry code of practice as approved codes of practice under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011, giving practical guidance on meeting the standards in the Act and the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011. Safe Work Australia, which published the model healthcare and social assistance code in July 2025, describes it as focusing on hospitals, aged care and disability support, including home-based settings.

Remote or isolated work carries its own duty. Safe Work Australia explains that regulation 48 of the model WHS Regulations requires a business to manage the risks to workers who are isolated from the assistance of other people because of the location, time or nature of their work, including by providing a system of work with effective communication. For a home care worker driving between communities, that means a reliable way to call for help and a plan for what happens when a transfer cannot be done safely alone.

What it means on shift in the Northern Territory

• Both the hazardous manual tasks code and the healthcare and social assistance industry code are approved codes of practice in the Territory.
• Remote or isolated work has its own duty: your employer must manage the risk and provide a system of work that includes effective communication with you.
• The Territory's Act and Regulations carry 'National Uniform Legislation' in their names because they are its versions of the model WHS laws, so training written to the model laws applies.
• The model healthcare and social assistance code covers home-based settings as well as facilities, so it applies to home care rounds as much as to residential homes.

Who is responsible for what

Under the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT), the business you work for, known as a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), must eliminate the risks of hazardous manual tasks so far as is reasonably practicable and minimise any risk it cannot eliminate. As a worker, you must take reasonable care for your own health and safety and that of others, follow reasonable instructions and cooperate with reasonable policies and procedures.

In practice the answer to a heavy or awkward transfer is rarely "lift more carefully". It is a change to the task, the environment, the equipment or the staffing. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the national aged care regulator, oversees providers against the Aged Care Quality Standards, but WHS law is NT WorkSafe's job.

How the course fits with your employer's training

Eight self-paced online modules take about 45–60 minutes. The assessment has 20 multiple-choice questions, a 75% pass mark and unlimited attempts, and a retry only re-asks the questions you answered wrongly. The A$49 Certificate of Completion carries a unique number and a QR code that anyone can check at /verify.

It does not replace your employer's practical, equipment-specific training on the hoists, slings and care plans you will actually use. This is non-accredited workplace training. It is not Nationally Recognised Training and does not issue a Statement of Attainment.

Common questions

Covered in the course

• Module 3: Identifying Hazardous Manual Tasks
• Module 8: Reporting, Incidents and Ongoing Safety

Related guides

• New South Wales
• Victoria
• Queensland
• Western Australia