Manual Handling Training for Assistants in Nursing

Working under delegation

Each residential aged care home must have at least one registered nurse on site and on duty at all times, apart from limited exemptions for some rural and remote homes. Registered nurses plan care and delegate tasks, and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's decision-making framework makes the nurse who delegates accountable for the decision to delegate and for monitoring how the task is performed. The person who accepts a delegated task is responsible for their own actions, and should accept it only if they are competent and confident to perform it safely.

For manual handling that has practical consequences. If you have not been trained on the hoist, the stand-aid or the specific transfer, say so before you accept the task. If the transfer method in the care plan does not work today, do not change it on your own authority. Stop, keep the resident safe, and tell the nurse.

Following the care plan, and knowing when to question it

A care plan that specifies two staff and a slide sheet is a control, not a suggestion. Completing the task alone because the second person is busy defeats the control and moves the risk onto you and the resident. The same applies to the sling size, the hoist type and whether a resident needs one or two staff to stand.

A plan can also go out of date. Mobility changes with infection, pain, new medication, a fall or a hospital stay, and Outcome 5.5 of the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, on the safety of clinical care, covers falls and functional decline. AINs are often the first to see the change, because you are the one doing the transfers. Signs worth reporting include:

• The resident needs more help to stand than the plan says, or cannot take weight at all
• They are weaker on one side, drowsy, dizzy, in new pain or more confused than usual
• They grab, resist or become distressed during transfers
• Skin tears or bruising appear after handling
• The equipment in the plan no longer suits them, such as a sling that now fits poorly

Reporting into a clinical team

An observation is only useful if it reaches the registered nurse and the record. Report changes promptly and specifically: what you saw, when, and what you did. For example, the resident could not take weight through the left leg at the morning transfer, so you stopped, sat them back down and asked for the hoist. Record it in the progress notes or incident system your workplace uses. Near misses matter as much as injuries, because they show a control is failing before someone is hurt.

The Aged Care Code of Conduct requires workers to deliver care in a safe and competent manner and to raise concerns about quality and safety promptly, and the Aged Care Act 2024 includes protections for aged care workers who report concerns about care. Module 8, Reporting, Incidents and Ongoing Safety, covers how to escalate a concern that is not being acted on.

What this course covers for AINs

The aged care course gives AINs the theory underneath the practical training their employer provides. Module 2, Australian Work Health and Safety Principles, covers the duties of employers and workers. Module 4, Risk Assessment and Risk Controls, explains why the hierarchy of controls puts elimination, equipment and planning ahead of technique. Module 6, People Handling in Aged Care, and Module 7, Equipment and Mechanical Aids, cover transfers, repositioning, hoists and slide sheets in theory.

It is non-accredited workplace training. It is not an AIN qualification, and it does not replace your employer's practical training and competency sign-off on its own hoists, beds and stand-aids. The course takes about 45–60 minutes, the 20-question assessment has a 75% pass mark with unlimited attempts, and you pay A$49 for the Certificate of Completion only after you pass.

Covered in the course

• Module 8: Reporting, Incidents and Ongoing Safety
• Module 2: Australian Work Health and Safety Principles
• Module 4: Risk Assessment and Risk Controls
• Module 6: People Handling in Aged Care
• Module 7: Equipment and Mechanical Aids

Common questions

Related pages

• Disability support workers
• Carers
• Aged care workers
• Personal care assistants
• People handling
• Hoists and equipment
• All aged care guides, including each state