Why do change tables have steps, and how should you use them?
Change tables have steps so that toddlers who can climb do the climbing, and the educator does not lift them from the floor to bench height and back for every change. Across a nappy round of ten or twelve children, several times a day, that single design choice removes more lifting than any amount of technique training. Using the steps well means staying beside the child with a hand ready the whole way up and down, never turning away from a child on the table, keeping the steps clean and locked, and using an adjustable-height surface for infants who cannot climb. This guide explains the reasoning and the routine.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Applies to the Manual Handling Training for Childcare and Early Childhood Educators course.
The lift the steps remove
A fixed-height change table with no steps asks the educator to lift a child of anywhere from ten to eighteen kilograms from floor level to roughly waist height, hold them steady while they land on the mat, and then reverse the whole movement a few minutes later. The starting position is a stoop or a squat with the arms extended, the child is often mid-play and reluctant, and the same movement repeats for every child in the room. That is repetitive and sometimes sudden force, from an awkward posture, at high frequency — most of the risk factors for a hazardous manual task in one routine.
Built-in steps change the task rather than the technique. The child walks to the change area, climbs with you beside them and lies down; you guide rather than lift. In the language of the hierarchy of controls, the steps eliminate the lift for every child who can climb and are an engineering change to the equipment itself, which is why they sit near the top of the hierarchy rather than down with 'bend your knees'. Module 4 of the course, Risk Assessment and the Hierarchy of Controls, works through this example, and Module 7, Equipment, Aids and Room Design in Education and Care, covers steps as one of the pieces of equipment that take the lift out of everyday routines.
The steps do not remove every lift. Infants, children with additional needs, a toddler who is asleep or unwell, or one who refuses on the day will still be lifted. But taking the floor-to-bench lift out of most changes on most days is what protects an educator's back over a career.
Supervising a child on the steps and the table
A child on a set of steps or on a raised surface is a fall risk, and the Education and Care Services National Law requires adequate supervision at all times. The manual handling gain never overrides that. The routine most services use is simple: stand beside the steps, not behind the child, with a hand within reach of them for the whole climb; help them to lie down; keep one hand on or within reach of the child while they are on the table; and stay beside them on the way down. You do not step away to fetch a nappy, answer a colleague or reach a bin.
Children who are not yet steady climbers should be lifted, from as close and as high as possible — kneel to bring them in, stand through your legs, keep them against you — rather than coaxed up steps they cannot manage.
- Lay out nappy, wipes, cream, gloves and a bag before the child climbs, within reach in front of you — never behind you, so you never twist or turn away
- Use the safety strap or rail if the table has one, and still keep a hand near the child
- Fold or gate the steps when the table is not in use so children cannot climb unsupervised
- Only one child on the steps or the table at a time
- Follow your service's nappy-change procedure; it sets the supervision and hygiene sequence and comes first
Hygiene, cleaning and checks
The National Regulations require adequate and appropriate hygienic facilities for nappy changing, and every service has a cleaning procedure for the change mat between children. Steps need to be part of that routine. They are touched by feet that have just been on the floor and by hands mid-change, so wipe them down as your procedure requires, check that the non-slip surface is intact and keep them clear of toys and bags.
Before each session, check that the steps lock open and do not rock, that the table itself is stable, that the strap or rail is present and that the surface is clean. A wobbling step is both a fall hazard for a child and a reason an educator will start lifting again 'just to be safe', which brings the manual handling hazard straight back. Module 7 covers pre-use checks, and Module 8, Reporting, Incidents and Ongoing Safety, covers reporting worn steps, stiff hinges and missing straps so they are fixed rather than worked around.
Adjustable-height tables for infants
Steps solve the toddler problem. For infants who cannot climb, the equivalent control is an adjustable-height change surface set close to your elbow height, so you are neither stooping over a low bench nor hunching over a high one. Where a table adjusts, set it for yourself at the start of the change and do not adjust it with a child on it unless the design is made for that. Where it does not adjust and is too low for taller educators, raise it with your director — a change of equipment is the approved provider's decision under its WHS duty, but you are the person who can report that the current set-up hurts.
What this course does and does not do: it explains why steps and adjustable surfaces matter, how to supervise while using them and what to check. It cannot show you how your particular table's steps lock or fold. That instruction, and the decision to buy tables with steps in the first place, belongs to your approved provider.
Common questions
Sources
- Safe Work Australia — Model Code of Practice: Hazardous manual tasks — The national code the state and territory regulators adopt or mirror.
- Safe Work Australia — Lifting, pushing and pulling (manual tasks)
- ACECQA — National Quality Framework — Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations.
General information about Australian work health and safety duties, not legal advice. Your employer’s procedures and the regulator in your state take precedence.
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