Manual Handling Training in Tasmania

Tasmania's WHS Act and the 2022 regulations

The Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas) carries the national framework into Tasmanian law. The main duty belongs to the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), and the people doing the work are workers, whether they are employees, contractors, apprentices or volunteers.

Since 12 December 2022 the detailed rules have come from the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022, which superseded the 2012 set. They deliberately keep the national numbering, so regulation 60 holds the hazardous manual tasks duty in Tasmania just as it does in the model regulations. Under it, a PCBU must manage the risk of a musculoskeletal disorder associated with a hazardous manual task.

A hazardous manual task is one that requires a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any person, animal or thing, and involves repetitive or sustained force, high or sudden force, repetitive movement, sustained or awkward posture, or exposure to vibration. The regulations give examples such as sorting objects on a conveyor belt and handling loads that are unstable or hard to grasp.

Codes of practice and what a PCBU must weigh

Safe Work Australia publishes the model Code of Practice: Hazardous manual tasks, and Tasmania's version has been in effect since 5 December 2018. It is the practical guide to meeting regulation 60 in any workplace, from a building site to an office.

Hospitals, aged care, disability services and other healthcare or social assistance settings also fall under the Healthcare and social assistance code of practice, in force in Tasmania since 17 December 2025. Its scope reaches beyond moving clients to aggression, fatigue and psychosocial hazards.

In choosing controls under regulation 60, a PCBU must consider the postures, movements, forces and vibration involved, how long and how often the task is done, the environment, the design and layout of the work area, the systems of work, and the nature, size, weight or number of people, animals or things handled. The general rules then apply: eliminate the risk if reasonably practicable; if not, substitute, isolate or engineer it out, then use administrative controls, with personal protective equipment last.

What the law says about training

Section 19(3)(f) of the Tasmanian Act requires a PCBU to provide the information, training, instruction or supervision needed to protect everyone from risks arising from the work. Regulation 39 adds that it must suit the work, the risks and the controls in place, and be given in a way workers can readily understand.

Neither the Act nor the regulations names a manual handling certificate, and no Australian WHS law sets a single legal lifting limit in kilograms. Training sits low in the hierarchy of controls. It makes a hoist, a trolley or a better bench layout work as intended, but it follows changes to the task, the equipment and the environment rather than replacing them.

Workers have duties under section 28: take reasonable care for your own health and safety and that of others, comply with reasonable instructions, and cooperate with the safety policies and procedures you have been told about.

Manual tasks from Hobart to the north-west coast

Freight crosses Bass Strait by sea, so ports and depots around Devonport, Burnie and Launceston keep warehouse and logistics workers loading, unloading and wrapping pallets. Construction and renovation in Hobart and Launceston often mean hilly blocks and older houses, where materials are carried up steps and into tight spaces.

Tourism brings visitors to Hobart's waterfront, the east coast and the wilderness areas. Hospitality staff move kegs, crates and furniture in older buildings, and housekeeping teams turning over holiday accommodation push trolleys, strip beds and carry linen between floors. Early learning centres, offices and hospitals add their own tasks, from lifting children to shifting files and patients.

Care reaches into small towns and clients' homes, where steps, narrow doorways and small bathrooms were never designed for hoists. WorkSafe Tasmania's advice for moving a patient is to assess how much they can help, choose the safest method, and use a mechanical aid or a co-worker.

Practical points for Tasmanian workers

These apply in a Burnie warehouse, a Hobart kitchen or a client's home in the Midlands.

• Induction material written before 12 December 2022 may still cite the 2012 regulations; the hazardous manual tasks duty now sits in the 2022 regulations.
• Speak up when a task involves awkward posture, sudden force or constant repetition, because those are among the features that make a manual task hazardous in law.
• Near misses and minor injuries are worth reporting: control measures must be reviewed when they are not working, and before a workplace change that could bring a new risk.
• If a control is not working, your health and safety representative can ask the PCBU to review it.
• Treat cold mornings, wet surfaces and steep paths as part of the task, since environmental conditions are one of the factors a PCBU must consider.

Where an online course fits in Tasmania

Online study explains why manual handling injuries happen and how to judge whether a task is hazardous, which makes on-site instruction easier to follow. This is not Nationally Recognised Training, and it sits beside, not instead of, the hands-on, equipment-specific training the business you work for provides.

You pay nothing to study or sit the assessment; the A$49 fee applies only if you pass and want the Certificate of Completion, which has a unique number and a QR code for online verification. The industry list on this page leads to the right course.

Common questions

Other states and territories

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