Manual Handling Training in Victoria

Victoria's own OHS law and its regulator

Every other state and territory runs a version of the model WHS laws; Victoria kept its own Act. In substance the duties match the rest of the country: find the hazards, control the risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and involve the people doing the work.

The vocabulary is where Victoria stands apart. Victorian law speaks of OHS rather than WHS, of employers and employees rather than a PCBU and workers, and of 'hazardous manual handling' rather than 'hazardous manual tasks'. Workers arriving from interstate meet the same expectations in different words.

The detail sits in Part 3.1 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, titled 'Hazardous manual handling'. Regulation 5 defines the term widely: using force to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain a thing where the work involves repetitive or sustained force, sustained awkward posture, repetitive movement, high force or sustained vibration. Handling live people or animals, and loads that are unstable, unbalanced or hard to grip, is covered too.

What WorkSafe Victoria asks of every employer

According to WorkSafe Victoria, hazardous manual handling injures more people in Victorian workplaces than any other cause. Its main guidance is the Compliance code: Hazardous manual handling, which took over from the Manual handling code of practice 2000 on 15 March 2018. The current text is Edition 2, dated December 2019.

Unlike the model codes of practice used interstate, a compliance code offers a legal safe path: an employer that follows it is deemed to have met the duties it covers. It is optional, though; the duties can be met in other ways.

Part 3.1 sets out an order of work. Under regulations 26 and 27 the employer must identify hazardous manual handling and, so far as is reasonably practicable, remove any risk of a musculoskeletal disorder. Failing that, it must reduce the risk by altering the layout, environment or systems of work, changing the things handled, or using mechanical aids. Information, instruction or training then covers whatever risk remains.

Controls must take account of posture, movement, force, duration, frequency and conditions such as heat, cold and vibration. Regulation 28 then requires a review of the controls if an employee reports a musculoskeletal disorder, if a notifiable incident involves hazardous manual handling, before the work or where it happens changes, or at the request of a health and safety representative.

Where training fits under the OHS Act

Section 21(2)(e) of the OHS Act requires an employer to give employees the information, instruction, training or supervision they need to work safely and without risks to health. The law mandates no particular manual handling certificate and no single lifting limit in kilograms; the duty is to assess each task and control its risk.

Regulation 27 also caps how far an employer can lean on training: it may be the sole or main control only if none of the other measures, such as a new layout, different equipment or a mechanical aid, is reasonably practicable. Training helps people use a trolley, a hoist or a redesigned workstation well; it does not stand in for them.

Employees have duties too. Under section 25 you must take reasonable care for yourself and anyone your work affects, co-operate with your employer's safety measures, and not misuse or interfere with anything provided for health and safety.

Heavy, awkward and repetitive work around Victoria

Warehouses and distribution centres line Melbourne's western and south-eastern suburbs, where order picking and loading docks fill every shift. Construction runs from inner-city projects to new estates on the urban fringe and in Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo, with plasterboard to carry and steel to tie.

Melbourne's hospitality venues, and tourist towns on the coast and in the high country, rely on staff who shift kegs, stock and furniture. Early learning centres, offices, hospitals and cleaners add their own loads, from lifting toddlers to boxing archives and pushing linen trolleys.

Care work is covered too, since the definition expressly includes live persons. WorkSafe Victoria's home care compliance kit lists vacuuming, mopping, cleaning bathrooms and making beds, as well as moving people, among the hazardous tasks in home care.

Along the Murray, in towns such as Wodonga, Echuca and Mildura, a worker who takes shifts on both sides of the river moves between the OHS Act and the model WHS laws run by SafeWork NSW, with different codes and terms for much the same job.

Practical points for Victorian workplaces

A few habits help in any Victorian workplace.

• Expect Victorian procedures to say OHS, employer and hazardous manual handling; a document that mentions a PCBU or the model code may have been written for another state.
• Report pain, strain or a near miss early: a reported musculoskeletal disorder obliges your employer to review its controls under regulation 28.
• Use the aids supplied, such as trolleys, hoists, adjustable benches and slide sheets, and report any that are missing, broken or wrong for the load.
• Heat, cold and vibration count under Part 3.1, so raise them when a job is assessed, whether in a freezer store, a commercial kitchen or on a winter building site.

Pairing an online certificate with on-site instruction

An online course teaches the principles behind the law: how injuries build up, how to assess a task, and why controls come before technique. It is not Nationally Recognised Training, nor a substitute for the practical, equipment-specific instruction your employer gives on site.

Training and assessment are free. If you pass, a Certificate of Completion costs A$49 and carries a unique number and QR code that anyone can verify online. Choose the course for your industry from the list on this page.

Common questions

Other states and territories

• Manual handling training in New South Wales
• Manual handling training in Queensland
• 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