Online Manual Handling Training Course

A manual handling course teaches you to lift, carry, push and pull loads at work without injuring yourself.

Manual handling means moving or supporting a load by bodily force. This course covers it in four units:

• Unit 1: the law, with the duties of employers and employees
• Unit 2: musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and how poor handling causes them
• Unit 3: risk assessment, using TILE (Task, Individual, Load and Environment)
• Unit 4: safe lifting, pushing, pulling and team lifts

For more on the risks and duties behind it, read our guide to managing manual handling risks.

Yes. Employers in Great Britain must give their workers the information, instruction and training they need to work safely.

That duty comes from section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require employers to avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable. Where they can’t avoid it, they must assess the risk and reduce it.

Unit 1 of this course explains these duties, with what employees must do in return.

For the employer’s duties in full, read HSE’s guide, Manual handling at work.

A manual handling certificate shows you’ve completed manual handling training and passed its assessment.

The certificate from this course is CPD Accredited and carries a QR code. An employer or auditor can scan it to check it online.

The certificate from this course is valid for 3 years.

The law sets no fixed interval for refresher training. Employers decide when staff retrain, from their risk assessment.

If a role or its risks change, the employer should review that assessment, which can bring a refresher forward.

Your certificate stays on record online, ready for an audit or inspection.

To refresh, take this course again before your certificate runs out.

You get a manual handling certificate by completing a manual handling course and passing its assessment.

On this course, that means scoring 70% or more on a 15-question multiple-choice quiz.

We email your QR-coded certificate as soon as you pass.

Retakes are free and unlimited. If you don’t pass first time, revisit the course and try again.

Good manual handling technique follows eight principles of safe lifting, based on Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance:

1. Start with a stable position, feet apart
2. Get a secure grip on the load
3. Keep the load close to your body
4. Bend your hips and knees, rather than your back alone
5. Avoid bending further once you start to lift
6. Avoid twisting: move your feet to turn
7. Move your feet as needed to stay balanced
8. Look ahead, not down at the load

They apply to a basic two-handed lift.

Before any lift, check whether a trolley or other handling aid could do the job instead.

Unit 4 of this course teaches all eight. It goes on to lifts from height, team lifts and pushing or pulling.

For the detail behind each principle, read HSE’s guidance on good handling technique.

Yes. This online manual handling course has no classroom part: you watch the video lessons, take the quiz and get your certificate by email.

Train Anywhere, Anytime. Every part works on a phone, tablet or computer with a stable internet connection, so learners can fit it around their shifts.

Buy it now and start straight away.