Christine Brown Wilson describes how manual handling training not only improves nursing practice and protects staff from injury, but also helps to enhance older people’s levels of activity, mobility and general functioning

The introduction of Health and Safety legislation in the form of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 focused attention on this aspect of nursing and began to address the long-held concern about the implications of back injuries (Love 1993, Mitchelmore 1996). Through these regulations employers were given explicit responsibility to ensure that staff, as far as is reasonably practicable, avoid hazardous manual handling. If this cannot be avoided, risks must be assessed and reduced to the lowest possible level (Health and Safety Executive 1992). Guidance on best practice now indicates that an ergonomic approach to risk assessment should be taken, and equipment should be used to ensure that people are not lifted manually in any but emergency situations (RCN 1996, Lloyd 1996, Health and Safety Commission 1998).