Articles

Author - Nicola MacCue

ISS is a global company with nearly 500,000 employees world-wide. In Australia they have over 22,000 staff and are the largest facility services provider in the country. ISS recently took over the contract at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) and conducted a review of workplace practices. Peter Karlsson, Quality and Compliance Manager for ISS, had a number of concerns, including; the number of staff with existing injuries, the quality of previous staff training, workplace manual handling techniques and the culture within some of the departments that did not encourage appropriate manual handling. Accordingly Peter approached Actevate to develop and deliver a tailored manual handling training program for all staff.

Actevate conducted an on-site task analysis of eight departments within the hospital, including; security, food-service, cleaning, materials handling, linen, waste, office and SSO’s. The Actevate Team observed staff working within each department, investigated high-risk tasks, and consulted staff members on issues they believed needed addressing. This consultative approach provided a better understanding of the issues on the ground and enabled tailored presentations to be created for each department.

The roll-out of the training program involved delivering 36 one and a half hour sessions to hundreds of staff. Each session included theory and interactive exercises customized to each role. To ensure the training was as practical as possible, exercises were conducted in the departments or equipment was brought into the training room. This allowed for real-life examples to be observed, discussed and practiced by staff.

Attendees received a tailored handout with information on correct manual handling technique and specific stretches to minimise their risk of injury at work. The stretches were practiced during the training sessions, encouraging staff to implement them as a regular part of their work day. To further reinforce behavioural change posters illustrating relevant stretches were placed in high visibility areas around the hospital.

The interactive and group-focused nature of the training encouraged a ‘team spirit,’ overcoming some of the cultural resistance that existed in certain departments, moreover the personalised approach gave individual staff members the courage to voice concerns over practices they believed were leading to injury management and safety issues.

Participants in the training showed a great amount of enthusiasm, especially with the practical exercises, and demonstrated an improved knowledge of correct manual handling techniques within the workplace. Actevate and ISS will continue to monitor behavioural changes in the workplace and the resulting decrease in injuries at RNSH.

For more information on tailored Manual Handling Training please visit our web site or call 1300 669 552.