Manual Handling Training for Aged Care Workers in Tasmania

Work health and safety in Tasmania

Tasmania adopted the model work health and safety laws from 1 January 2013, and WorkSafe Tasmania administers them. The current Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022 came into effect on 12 December 2022, replacing the 2012 regulations, and carry the duties on hazardous manual tasks.

The ABS ranks Hobart as the oldest capital city in Australia by median age, and the rest of Tasmania is older again: people aged 50 and over make up a larger share of the population outside Greater Hobart than within it. Aged care is delivered in smaller towns as well as the cities, often in older buildings and in clients' own homes, where bathrooms and bedrooms were not designed for hoists.

Aged care in Tasmania

Tasmanian aged care runs from residential homes in Hobart and Launceston to home care along the north-west coast around Devonport and Burnie, the east coast, the Midlands, the west coast and the Bass Strait islands. Travel between clients on winding and often wet roads is part of the job for many home care workers, and the car transfer at each end of a visit is as much a manual task as anything inside the house.

Housing and climate shape the work. Many homes have steps at the entrance, narrow doorways and small bathrooms, and Hobart and Launceston are hilly cities where pushing a wheelchair on a sloping, wet footpath takes real force. Cold mornings bring heaters, rugs and extra layers of clothing into the rooms where transfers happen, adding clutter and effort. WorkSafe Tasmania's advice for anyone visiting patients at home is to assess potential hazards in the home environment.

Teams are often small, and a second worker for a two-person transfer on a regional home care round may be a phone call and a drive away. That makes the planning in Module 3, Identifying Hazardous Manual Tasks, and the equipment checks in Module 7, Equipment and Mechanical Aids, the part of the job that protects both you and the client.

What WorkSafe Tasmania publishes on hazardous manual tasks

WorkSafe Tasmania lists two codes of practice that bear directly on aged care manual handling. The Hazardous manual tasks code of practice has been in effect in Tasmania since 5 December 2018. The Healthcare and social assistance code of practice has been in effect since 17 December 2025; it applies to all workplaces where healthcare or social assistance is provided and covers client handling, aggression, fatigue and psychosocial hazards as well as the general risk management process.

WorkSafe Tasmania's health care and social assistance industry page lists lifting, supporting and moving patients and handling trolleys and wheelchairs among the industry's hazardous manual tasks. When moving patients, it says to assess the patient's level of dependence or ability to assist, select the safest moving method, and use assistance, either mechanical, such as hoists and slide sheets, or a co-worker. For carers working in people's homes, it points to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland's guide to working safely in people's homes and WorkSafe Victoria's Transferring people safely.

What it means on shift in Tasmania

• The Healthcare and social assistance code of practice took effect in Tasmania on 17 December 2025; procedures written before then may not reflect it yet.
• WorkSafe Tasmania's approach to moving a patient comes down to three steps: assess their dependence or ability to assist, choose the safest method, and use mechanical help or a co-worker.
• WorkSafe Tasmania advises assessing hazards in the home environment when you visit patients at home, so report steps, rugs, heaters and tight bathrooms rather than working around them.
• The Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022 (Tas) replaced the 2012 regulations on 12 December 2022, so older induction material may cite the previous version.

Who is responsible for what

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas), 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 WorkSafe Tasmania'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 7: Equipment and Mechanical Aids

Related guides

• Australian Capital Territory
• Northern Territory
• New South Wales
• Victoria