Safe Movement Principles
General principles for moving your own body safely — planning, posture, keeping the load close, pushing rather than pulling, and knowing when not to lift.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Part of Manual Handling Training for Office and General Workplace Staff
Key learning points
- Plan a task before starting it
- Apply general principles of stable, controlled movement
- Push and pull trolleys and cages safely
- Recognise personal limitations and when to seek assistance
- Understand why no single lifting technique suits every situation
Plan before you move
- Know what you are moving, how heavy it is and where it is going — tilt a corner to test an unknown weight
- Decide whether a trolley, a second person or splitting the load is needed before you touch it
- Walk the route first: doors, stairs, lift, thresholds, clutter, where you will put it down
- Clear the destination so you are not holding the load while you make space
- Prop doors open or have someone hold them; never hold a load and a fire door at once
- Wear footwear you can carry in — a lift in heels or loose slides is a different task
General movement principles
- Get close to the load before lifting and keep it close to your body while carrying
- Take a stable stance with feet apart, one slightly forward
- Bend at the hips and knees rather than the waist, and keep your back in its natural curve
- Get a firm grip — use handholds, or reposition the load so you can
- Lift smoothly; no jerking, no snatching a box off a shelf
- Face the direction of travel and move your feet to turn rather than twisting your spine
- Keep your view clear — if you cannot see over the load, it is too big to carry alone
- Lower with the same care as lifting; most strains occur putting things down
Pushing and pulling
- Push rather than pull where possible — you can use body weight and see where you are going
- Keep hands between waist and chest height on the handle
- Start slowly; the highest force is getting a trolley moving and stopping it
- Take thresholds and ramps square-on, and slow down before them
- Do not overload a trolley so high that you cannot see, or so heavy that it will not stop
- Take a lift rather than a ramp for a loaded trolley wherever one exists
Stairs
Stairs multiply risk. You cannot see your feet past a box, you cannot use a handrail, and a stumble with a load is a fall with a load on top of you. If the lift is out of order, the default is to wait, split the load into something that leaves one hand free, or use a stair-climbing sack truck if your facilities team has one and you are trained on it. A full archive box does not go down fire stairs in someone's arms.
There is no universal lifting technique
Safe movement depends on the load, the route, the equipment and the environment. A posture that suits lifting a paper carton from a pallet is useless for pulling a monitor off a high shelf or sliding a box out from under a desk. Plan the specific task rather than applying one memorised posture.
When not to lift
- The weight is unknown and you cannot test it safely
- You cannot get close to it or get a proper grip
- It is above shoulder height or below knee height and heavy
- The route involves stairs, or a door you would have to hold
- You are alone and the task normally needs two people or a trolley
- You are already tired, sore or recovering from an injury
- It can simply wait until the trolley, the lift or a colleague is available
Practical scenario
Scenario: the monitor on the top shelf
IT has left a boxed 32-inch monitor on the top shelf of the storeroom. You need it for a new starter this morning. The shelf is at about 1.9 metres; there is a swivel chair in the corner and a platform step somewhere in facilities.
What is the safe approach?
Reveal the explanation
Get the platform step. A boxed monitor of that size is bulky rather than very heavy, but lifting it down from above head height means the load is far from your body with your arms extended and your view blocked — and a swivel chair as a step is how office falls happen. Bring the step, get the box to chest height, then to the trolley. Then ask why heavy IT stock is stored on the top shelf.
Practical scenario
Scenario: the water bottle
The water cooler in the kitchen is empty. The replacement 15 L bottles are stacked on the floor under the bench. The cooler is a top-loading model, so a full bottle must be lifted to about 1.2 metres and inverted into the neck.
How should this be done, and what would be a better long-term fix?
Reveal the explanation
Get close, lift the bottle from the floor with hips and knees to waist height, step in close to the cooler, then in one controlled movement raise and invert it. Remove the cap seal first so you are not fiddling under load. Better fixes sit higher in the hierarchy: store bottles on a low shelf rather than the floor, switch to a bottom-loading cooler, or plumb in a mains water unit and remove the task altogether.
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. The lift is out of order and three full archive boxes need to go down two floors. What should you do?
Stairs remove your view, your handrail and your balance. Waiting or splitting the load is the correct choice.
3. When moving a loaded mail cage across a carpeted floor, you should generally:
Pushing lets you use body weight and see ahead. The highest forces occur starting, stopping and at thresholds.