Safe Movement Principles
General principles for moving your own body safely — planning, posture, keeping the load close, avoiding twisting, team lifts and knowing when not to lift.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Part of Manual Handling Training for Childcare and Early Childhood Educators
Key learning points
- Plan a task before starting it
- Apply general principles of stable, controlled movement
- Know when a task needs two people, and how to co-ordinate a team lift
- Recognise personal limitations and when not to lift at all
- Understand why no single lifting technique suits every situation
Plan before you move
- Ask whether the lift is needed at all — can the child walk, climb or step up instead?
- Know where the child or object is going before you pick it up, and check the destination is clear and safe
- Clear the path — toys, mats, a toddler behind your feet
- Set up the equipment — cot side down, high chair tray off, buggy brake on, change table supplies laid out
- Decide whether a second educator or a trolley is required
- Tell the child what is about to happen so they are ready and not surprised
General movement principles
- Keep a stable base with your feet apart, one slightly ahead of the other
- Get close before you lift — step in to the cot, the pram, the child on the floor
- Bend your knees and hips, keep your back in its natural curve, and lift with your legs
- Bring the child or load in against your body before you straighten up
- Face the direction you are moving; turn with your feet, not your waist
- Avoid overreaching, especially into cots, over gates and across tables
- Move smoothly — no jerking, no swinging a child up onto a hip
- Lower with the same care as lifting; most cot and floor injuries happen on the way down
- Take recovery time between demanding tasks where the routine allows
There is no universal lifting technique
Safe movement depends on the task, the child, the environment, the equipment and your service's procedures. The posture that suits lifting a crate of blocks from the floor does not suit lowering a sleeping infant into a cot, or picking up a toddler who has just fallen in the sandpit.
Team lifts
Some loads in a service should never be moved by one person — a loaded buggy up a flight of steps, a full water trough, a large climbing frame, a stack of trestle tables. For a team lift, agree beforehand who is leading, who is at which end, which way you are going and what the count will be. Lift and lower together on the leader's word. If either person needs to stop, say so, and both lower the load.
When not to lift
- When the child can safely do it themselves with encouragement and time
- When you are off balance, on a slope, on wet ground or reaching over a barrier
- When a child is thrashing or arching and you cannot get a secure hold — get to their level and wait unless immediate safety requires otherwise
- When the load is heavier or more awkward than you expected — put it down and get help or a trolley
- When you are injured, unwell, pregnant and advised to limit lifting, or simply exhausted at the end of a long shift
- When your service's procedure says the task needs two people and only one is available
Practical scenario
Scenario: mid-task change
You are lifting a two-year-old out of a high chair. As you take his weight his foot catches under the tray and he twists and pushes away from you.
What should you do?
Reveal the explanation
Stop lifting. Do not pull against the trapped foot or try to power through the twist. Lower him back into the seat so his weight is supported, free the foot, remove the tray properly, and start again with him facing you and your body close. Then think about why it happened — trays should come off before a child is lifted, and children who can climb down from a low chair themselves should be encouraged to.
Practical scenario
Scenario: the buggy and the steps
On an excursion the footpath is closed and the only way forward is up six concrete steps. You are pushing a four-seat buggy with four toddlers in it and one colleague is with you.
What is the safe choice?
Reveal the explanation
Do not carry a loaded buggy up steps, even with two people — the combined weight is high, the load is unbalanced and a stumble would tip the children out. Put the brake on, get the children out one at a time and walk them up the steps holding hands with one educator while the other brings the empty buggy up, or find a ramp route even if it is longer. Report the closure so the excursion route is changed.
Knowledge check
These questions are for your own learning. They are not part of the final assessment.
1. Which statement about lifting technique is correct?
No single technique fits all tasks. Planning, equipment and controls matter more than a memorised posture.
2. A lift starts to go wrong partway through — the child twists and pushes away. What is the appropriate action?
Stopping safely and reassessing is always preferable to pushing through. Holding a child at arm's length increases the load on your back and the chance of dropping them.
3. Which is a sound way to set up a team lift of a heavy climbing frame?
A team lift is only safer than a solo lift if both people move together on an agreed plan and either can call a stop.