Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention

The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course is an online health and safety course from DT Training. It teaches workers to lift, lower, push, pull and carry loads without hurting themselves. It also teaches them to assess manual handling risk and decide what to change. Trainees get a certificate of achievement when they finish.

Back strains and other musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are among the most common injuries at work.

Anyone whose job involves lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling or repetitive movement needs manual handling training. The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course suits:

• trades and construction workers
• drivers
• machine operators, such as forklift, excavator and wheel loader operators
• warehouse teams
• agricultural workers
• supervisors
• office workers

The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course covers two areas: handling items safely, and managing manual handling risk. Topics include:

• what manual handling is, with examples from truck driving, office work, forklift operation and mechanics
• posture, and discomfort, pain and injury (DPI)
• how the spine works and the forces that injure it
• safe lifting, alone or as a team
• mechanical aids, from hand trucks to lifting equipment
• warming up before physical work
• New Zealand manual handling law
• individual, physical, environmental and work organisation risk factors
• how to identify and score manual handling risk

The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course teaches lifting technique and how to find and reduce risk. "How to lift" training teaches technique only, such as bending your knees and keeping your back straight.

The course also teaches trainees to find and score the risks in the task, the load, the work area and the way work is organised. Your business can then remove the cause of an injury, rather than rely on technique.

Yes, if the work involves manual handling. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), your business must give workers the training they need to work safely (section 36). The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course helps you meet this duty.

Training is only one part of the duty. Your business must also find manual handling risks and remove or reduce them. For example, you might use mechanical aids or change the task. WorkSafe's Code of Practice for Manual Handling sets out a process to identify, assess and control these risks. It was written in 2001, before HSWA, but WorkSafe says it still has useful guidance.

No. Unit standards are optional for manual handling in New Zealand. The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course covers content from three NZQA unit standards. It doesn't assess against them or award credits.

• 17459 Demonstrate and apply knowledge of safe manual handling practices in the workplace
• 17591 Demonstrate knowledge of the prevention and management of Discomfort, Pain and Injury (DPI) in the workplace
• 17592 Identify the causes of back injury and methods to prevent back injuries in the workplace

DT Training recommends repeating the Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course every 3 years to avoid skill fade and to address any bad habits that have crept in. No New Zealand law sets a specific refresher period for manual handling training.

Also retrain workers when tasks, equipment or the workplace change, or after a manual handling injury or near miss.

Yes, for the theory. The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course teaches safe technique, risk factors and how to score risk online. Training alone won't prevent injuries, whether it's online or in a classroom. Your business still needs to fix risky tasks. It also needs to show workers the equipment and procedures at your site.

Online suits the theory well. Trainees can replay modules, and questions check their understanding. The workbook helps them apply what they learned to your own tasks.

The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course fits around work and saves a day off site.

• Trainees do it at work, in about 1.5 hours
• Video lessons, with knowledge checks after each section
• Trainees can replay any module as often as they need
• Video subtitles in 25 languages, questions in 76 languages, and English audio for every question
• A certificate of achievement on completion
• Managers can assign the course, track progress and download reports
• Set-up is free, whether you buy one course licence or a hundred

Each trainee in the Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course gets:

• about 1.5 hours of video training, with knowledge checks
• a large number of reference documents and checklists
• a certificate of achievement when they finish
• six months' access to the course

Managers can assign the course, switch off optional modules, track progress and download reports. You can add more managers at no extra cost.

The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course pairs well with training for the equipment your team uses to move loads. Options from DT Training include:

• Electric pallet jack training: Operators frequently lift boxes on and off the pallet jack as opposed to only lift pallets
• Dangerous Goods Handler: large containers of hazardous substances can be awkward, and need extra care.

The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course takes around 1.5 hours, depending on the trainee. Trainees can spread the modules over several days.

Five risk-factor modules are optional. If a manager switches them off, the course takes about 25 minutes less.

There are additional tasks after the training, including analysing your workflow to identify manual handling risks.

• There are no prerequisites. Anyone can take the course.
• You need one course licence per trainee. You can't use one licence for several trainees.
• You need a computer, smartphone or tablet with internet access.

Yes. The Manual Handling and Back Injury Prevention course has:

• video subtitles in 25 languages, for all videos except interactive modules (choose the language in the video)
• questions in 76 languages (written answers must be in English)
• English audio for every question
• documents in English

Some captions are AI-generated and may have occasional errors.

"I liked the course, it covers your need to knows, no matter what your job entails...from an office worker to a warehouse person as in any job, there is a manual handling element for all of these workers." 

Karen Shaw, Safety and Wellbeing Champion, NZ Post

"We have used Axle weight limits, and vehicle dimensions and mass, Manual handling and back injury prevention and Tail Lift training.  We always find our team takes something useful away from your courses."

Bonnie McRae, General Manager, Direct Couriers

"Our trainees enjoyed the content and the experience. They commented on the detailed risks covered, how those risks directly apply to their roles as storepersons, and how the course improves their personal safety—especially during heavy manual handling. We plan to integrate this training into our onboarding process and use it as a bi-annual refresher."

Dion, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.