Is it Safe to Lift or Carry a Child during Positive Handling Interventions?

Question:
Is it okay to lift or carry a child who is being restrained from one location to another?

www.positivehandling.co.uk

RISKS
There are many issues to be considered as the risks are very significant, for example:
– violence injury to staff during a lift or carry
– musculoskeletal injury to staff during a lift or carry
– fall injury to child during a lift or carry

Under Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999 Regulation 3 the employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to staff and the risks to others involved in the work.  To fail to do so would be a breach of duties imposed under criminal law.

COMPLIANCE
To ensure full compliance with all relevant legal issues, I suggest that there would be need for:
1)  a manual handling risk assessment of the planned procedure by a competent person
2)  a physical intervention / tactical assessment of the planned procedure by a competent person
3)  a medical review of the planned procedure by a competent person
4)  a medical assessment of the individual child in light of the planned procedure
5)  training from a competent source for the planned procedure delivered to-
6)  staff who have been assessed as ‘fit’ for the activity of lifting and carrying unstable, potentially volatile loads.

COMPETENCIES
So, all you would need from the Behaviour Team who are suggesting this procedure would be all of the above documentation, including proof of competencies.  I would want to see as a starter:

– trainer-level manual handling qualifications
– trainer-level physical intervention qualifications

Without evidence of those kinds of competencies, it is possible you might be taking un-qualified advice.

TRAINING
Once you have reviewed those risk assessments and proof of competencies to your satisfaction, you could conceivably then implement the advice to lift and carry the child, once the appropriate staff (who have been assessed as fit) are trained by someone competent to do so

Regulation 4(1)a

(1) Each employer shall –

(a) so far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured.

Regulation 4(1)(b)

(1) Each employer shall –

(b) where it is not reasonably practicable to avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured –

(i)  make a suitable and sufficient assessment of all such manual handling operations to be undertaken by them, having regard to the factors which are specified in column 1 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations and considering the questions which are specified in the corresponding entry in column 2 of that Schedule,
(ii)  take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to those employees arising out of their undertaking any such manual handling operations to the lowest level reasonably practicable, and
(iii)  take appropriate steps to provide any of those employees who are undertaking any such manual handling operations with general indications and, where it is reasonably practicable to do so, precise information on –
(aa) the weight of each load, and
(bb) the heaviest side of any load whose centre of gravity is not positioned centrally.0:4:43

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