Manual Handling Training in Western Australia

From the OSH Act to the WHS Act in Western Australia

The Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) passed State Parliament in November 2020 and took over from the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 when it became operational on 31 March 2022. Workers with long WA careers may have done their earlier safety training under the 1984 Act.

Three sets of regulations started on the same day. The Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 cover most workplaces, mining and mineral exploration have their own Mines Regulations, and petroleum, pipeline and geothermal energy operations have a third set.

The main duty holder is now called a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). Its duty includes providing the information, training, instruction or supervision needed to protect everyone from risks arising from the work, and the General Regulations carry the model duty to manage the risk of musculoskeletal disorders from hazardous manual tasks (regulation 60 in the model WHS Regulations).

WorkSafe WA describes a hazardous manual task as lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying or otherwise moving, holding or restraining a person, animal or thing, where the task involves repetitive movement, repetitive or sustained force, high or sudden force, sustained or awkward postures, or vibration. That reaches well beyond lifting boxes.

What WorkSafe WA publishes and expects

Two codes of practice anchor WorkSafe WA's advice: the Hazardous manual tasks code of practice, released in July 2022, and the Code of practice: How to manage work health and safety risks. Read together, they explain how manual tasks should be identified, assessed and controlled in any workplace.

For employers building their own programs, WorkSafe WA has a sample manual tasks training package to adapt, a manual tasks risk management checklist, and a state framework and strategy for preventing and managing work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Its manual tasks pages cover construction, manufacturing, retail and wholesale, food service, transport, mining, and healthcare and social assistance, with separate guidance on office ergonomics.

On training, the regulator is specific. It expects a competent person to deliver it, and it expects the content to cover manual task risk management and the hazards involved, the particular risks and controls at that workplace, safe ways of working including with mechanical aids and equipment, and the procedure for reporting a problem or a maintenance issue.

What the law asks of training, and what training is for

No WA law names a single manual handling course or certificate that every worker must hold. The PCBU must provide the training, information, instruction and supervision people need to work safely, and each employer decides what that looks like. Some ask for HLTWHS005, a unit that is separate from general online courses.

Training is also not the first line of defence. The stronger controls change the task itself: removing a lift altogether, raising or lowering a work surface, bringing in a trolley or hoist, splitting a heavy load or adding a second worker. Training then explains those controls and how to use them; it supports changes to the task, equipment and environment rather than replacing them.

There is no universal legal lifting limit in kilograms in Western Australia or anywhere else in Australia. Each task is assessed and controlled on its own merits.

Where manual tasks happen across Western Australia

Manual tasks turn up across WA industries. Warehouse and logistics workers around Perth handle cartons, pallets and cages all shift, and construction and trade workers carry materials, kneel and reach overhead on housing and commercial sites. Hospitality and retail staff shift deliveries, kegs and stock, while cleaners and facilities staff push trolleys and machines across large floors.

Care work adds the handling of people: nurses, disability support workers, aged care workers and childcare educators all lift, support or reposition someone as part of the job. Office work counts too, since WorkSafe WA treats computer use as a manual task.

Distance changes the picture outside Perth. In regional and remote WA, a replacement part, an equipment repair or a second pair of hands can be a long way off, and people often work alone or over long shifts. Checking equipment before setting out, and stopping rather than improvising when a task no longer feels safe, matter more when help is far away.

Practical points for WA workers

Five things worth checking, whatever your job:

• See which Act your procedures and training records cite; anything referring to the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 predates the current framework.
• Ask who delivers your manual tasks training and whether it deals with the actual tasks, controls and equipment at your workplace, as WorkSafe WA expects.
• Check the rated capacity of any trolley, lifter, hoist or platform before you load it, and whether its wheels suit the floor or ground you are on.
• Report faulty equipment, a task that has changed or early aches and pains through your workplace's reporting process, so the task can be fixed before someone is hurt.
• If you work alone or far from support, agree with your supervisor what you will do when a task is not safe to finish on your own.

How an online certificate sits alongside employer training

Manual Handling Academy runs online courses for nine industries, built around the principles of safe manual tasks under current WHS law. The training and assessment cost nothing; if you pass, you can buy a Certificate of Completion for A$49, which carries a unique number and a QR code anyone can use to verify it.

The certificate is not Nationally Recognised Training, and neither WorkSafe WA nor any other regulator endorses it. It covers the theory and does not replace your employer's practical, equipment-specific training in the tasks, aids and procedures at your own workplace.

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 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