Manual Handling Training in Queensland

Work health and safety law in Queensland

Queensland adopted the model work health and safety laws with effect from 1 January 2012. The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) sets out the general duties, and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 fills in the detail.

Hazardous manual tasks have their own part of the Regulation, Part 4.2. Section 60 requires a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to manage the risk of a musculoskeletal disorder associated with a hazardous manual task. The PCBU must consider the postures, movements, forces and vibration involved, how long and how often the task is done, the design and layout of the workplace, the systems of work, and the nature, size and weight of whatever is moved, including people and animals. The list also includes workplace environmental conditions, which in Queensland include heat, humidity and wet-season rain.

Why codes of practice carry extra weight here

Since 1 July 2018, approved codes of practice have been more than guidance in Queensland. Section 26A of the Act requires a PCBU to comply with an approved code, or to manage the hazards and risks in a different way that gives an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.

For physical work, the main code is the Hazardous manual tasks Code of Practice 2021. It mirrors the model code published by Safe Work Australia and explains how to identify hazardous manual tasks, assess the risk and control it, whatever the industry.

WHSQ also lists an older code: the Manual Tasks Involving the Handling of People Code of Practice 2001, a preserved Queensland code varied in 2018. It covers any work activity in which a person is moved, supported or restrained, which makes it relevant to nursing, disability support and aged care, and it is read together with the 2021 code rather than in place of it. Its central rule is that a worker should not fully lift a person unaided, unless that person is a small infant.

What the law says about training

You will not find a compulsory manual handling certificate in Queensland's WHS laws. Section 19(3)(f) of the Act makes the PCBU provide any information, training, instruction or supervision necessary to protect all persons from risks arising from the work, and section 39 of the Regulation deals with the information, training and instruction given to workers. Employers decide what training each role needs, and some ask for HLTWHS005 instead of a non-accredited course like this one.

Training is also only one layer of control. The first questions are whether the task can be removed or redesigned, whether a trolley, pallet jack, hoist or height-adjustable bench can take the load, and whether the work area can change. Training supports those changes; it does not replace them. Nor is there a single legal lifting limit in kilograms: the duty is to assess and control the risk of each task.

Queensland industries and the loads they handle

Across the south-east, from the Gold Coast through Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast, manual handling happens on building sites, in shopping centres and in the warehouses and distribution centres that move freight around the state. Tradespeople carry materials up scaffolds and stairs; retail teams unload deliveries and shift stock.

Tourism and hospitality employ many people on the Gold Coast, in the Whitsundays and in Cairns, which means kitchen work, housekeeping, linen trolleys, kegs and deliveries. Cleaning and facilities crews look after the same hotels and resorts.

Further north and west, in Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Mount Isa and the towns between, work in trades, freight, health and care often means long drives between jobs. Older Queenslander houses raised on stumps add their own challenge: tradespeople, removalists, cleaners and home care workers carry loads up external stairs and along narrow verandahs.

The climate touches all of it. Heat and humidity make physical work more tiring and leave hands, handles and equipment slippery, and heavy wet-season rain turns loading areas, driveways and car parks into slip hazards.

Practical habits for Queensland heat and distance

A few habits that hold in any Queensland job:

• Ask how your workplace applies the Hazardous manual tasks Code of Practice 2021. Under section 26A, it must follow the code or use a method that gives an equivalent or higher standard.
• Treat heat, humidity and a sweaty grip as part of the task. Where you can, schedule heavy work for cooler parts of the day, and use gloves, handles or aids rather than forcing a slippery load.
• Check the route before you carry: stairs, verandahs, wet driveways and uneven ground matter as much as the weight.
• If a task is planned for two people, or needs equipment that is not there, it waits. This matters most on regional and remote jobs, where the second person or the right gear may be a long drive away.
• Report pain, near misses and faulty equipment early, so the task can be changed before someone is injured.

Online training and the training you get at work

The courses on this site are online and self-paced, with a version for each of nine industries. They cover principles that apply in any Queensland workplace: spotting a hazardous manual task, assessing it, and putting controls ahead of technique.

This is not Nationally Recognised Training, it does not lead to a Statement of Attainment and it is not endorsed by WHSQ. It does not replace the practical, equipment-specific training your employer gives on site. Training and assessment are free, and you pay A$49 only after passing, for a Certificate of Completion with a unique number and QR code that anyone can verify online.

Common questions

Other states and territories

• Manual handling training in New South Wales
• Manual handling training in Victoria
• Manual handling training in Western Australia
• Manual handling training in South Australia
• Manual handling training in Tasmania
• Manual handling training in the Australian Capital Territory
• Manual handling training in the Northern Territory
• All guides by industry