Despite increased awareness and advances in technology, manual handling injuries remain one of the most common causes of workplace absence and compensation claims in the UK.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reported 543,000 workers suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in 2023/24, and 7.8 million workdays lost, with many MSDs linked directly to poor manual handling practices. 32 per cent of work related ill health is attributed to MSDs while 17 per cent of non-fatal injuries were attributed to handling lifting or carrying.

Once you’ve avoided, assessed and reduced the risk of injury from manual handling as much as possible, it’s vital that you provide thorough and effective training for every individual involved in essential handling tasks to ensure that they are carried out safely.

Here are five common and costly mistakes organisations are still making:

1. One-off training with no follow-up

It’s not enough to offer manual handling training once at induction and expect it to stick. Good practices fade fast under the pressure of real-world working conditions. If you’re not offering ongoing refresher training, you're likely to see an increase in unsafe habits and injury risk.

What to do: Make manual handling training part of your annual health and safety calendar. Short, regular updates can be more effective than a single long session.

2. No sector-specific or role-specific context

Too often, staff are trained using generic examples that don’t apply to their day-to-day work. A warehouse picker doesn’t face the same risks as a care worker or a construction labourer. Without relevance, training fails to connect or protect.

What to do: Tailor your training. Use real-life tasks and settings that your team encounters. Better still, invest in trainers who can customise sessions to different departments.

3. Relying on outdated techniques

Are you still teaching the old manual handling script from the 1990s? Many companies still rely on outdated techniques that don't reflect what we now know about biomechanics and risk.

What to do: Work with qualified, up-to-date trainers who align with current HSE and evidence-based guidance. Consider external audits of your training materials and methods.

4. Not training team leaders or supervisors

Your managers set the tone. If they’re not trained to recognise poor technique, be able to correct behaviours or support injured staff properly, unsafe practices become the norm.

What to do: Include line managers and supervisors in manual handling training. Empower them to be champions of safe working practices, not just enforcers of productivity.

5. No plan to develop internal expertise

With staff turnover high in many industries, relying solely on external providers for every training session can be inefficient. Yet many organisations have no plan to develop in-house manual handling trainers.

What to do: Identify internal staff who can complete a recognised qualification that will enable them to train others within the organisation. This ensures consistent, cost-effective delivery of manual handling training across your teams.

Manual handling training is not just about compliance, it’s about ensuring business continuity and wellbeing for your staff. Neglecting this issue can have major consequences in claims, downtime and workforce morale.

Investing in the right training, at the right time, for the right people can dramatically reduce both risk and cost.

For more information about manual handling training, visit: https://www.rospa.com/health-and-safety-courses/manual-handling-training