This manual handling toolbox talk takes about ten minutes. It covers using lifting aids before muscle, sizing up a load before you touch it, why there is no legal weight limit, and a basic safe lift taken from HSE guidance. It ends with four questions to ask the group and the legal background.
On this page
Before you give this talk
This talk is for anyone who lifts, carries, pushes or pulls as part of the job: warehouse and delivery staff, labourers, trades, cleaners, care staff moving equipment. It is a refresher for people who already do the work. It does not replace your manual handling risk assessment, or the practical training a new starter needs.
- Read it through once and change the examples to the loads your team handles.
- Bring a typical load and the aid that goes with it: a box and the sack truck, a bag and the trolley.
- Give it where the lifting happens, at the start of the shift.
- Allow ten minutes. The words take about five. The demonstration and the questions take the rest.
- Have a record sheet ready. Our free toolbox talk record sheet has space for the key points and the names.
The talk
The shaded boxes are the words to say. Use your own where they come more naturally.
Opening
This talk is about manual handling. That means lifting, putting down, carrying, pushing and pulling: anything where you move a load with your own body. It will take about ten minutes.
I am not going to tell you to bend your knees and leave it at that. Most of what protects your back happens before you touch the load.
It is not only the heavy lift that does the damage. How often you lift, how far you reach and whether you twist all count. So this is about the ordinary lifts we do every day as much as the big ones.
Use the equipment first
The first question is not how to lift it. It is whether it needs lifting by hand at all.
If there is a trolley, a sack truck, a pallet truck or a hoist for the job, that is how the load gets moved. Using it is not the slow way. It is the way the job is meant to be done, and you are expected to use it.
If the equipment is broken, missing or kept in the wrong place, tell me today. I would sooner fix a wheel than lose one of you for six weeks.
Size it up before you lift
Before you lift anything, stop and look. Four things.
The load. How heavy is it? Is the weight marked on it? Is it heavier on one side? Can you get a proper grip? Is it hot, sharp or slippery?
The task. How far has it got to go? Will you have to twist, reach, lift from the floor or lift above your shoulders?
The route. Is the way clear? Is the floor wet or uneven? Are there steps, or a door to get through? Can you see where you are going?
And you. If you have a bad back, an old injury or you are new to this, say so. Nobody here will think less of you for saying a load is too much.
There is no legal weight limit, and there is no weight that is safe for everybody. A light box held at arm's length above your head can do more harm than a heavier one held close at waist height. If you are not sure, do not find out by trying. Split the load, fetch the trolley or get help.
The lift
Demonstrate this with the load you brought, then ask one of the team to do it.
If it does have to be lifted by hand, this is how.
Plan it. Know where the load is going and clear the way before you pick it up.
Get close to it. Feet apart, one foot slightly in front of the other, so you are stable.
Get a good hold. Hug the load in to your body if you can.
Start with a slight bend in your back, hips and knees. Not a full stoop, and not a deep squat.
Lift smoothly. Do not jerk or snatch.
Keep the load close to your waist, with the heaviest side next to you.
Keep your head up. Once you have hold of it, look ahead, not down.
Do not twist. Turn by moving your feet.
Put it down first, then slide it into position.
Pushing, pulling and lifting together
Two more things. When you push or pull something on wheels, keep your hands between your hips and your shoulders and stay upright. If you have to lean your whole weight into it to get it moving, something is wrong: the load is too heavy, the wheels need attention or the floor is against you. Stop and tell me.
When two of you lift together, agree who is giving the word before you start, and lift on their call.
Close
Last thing. If your back, shoulders or wrists ache after a job, tell me that day. Do not wait until you cannot work.
And if there is a lift on this job that everybody hates, I want to hear about it now, because that is the one we need to change.
Key points to leave with the team
Write these on the record sheet. They are what the talk comes down to.
- Use the trolley, truck or hoist first. Report it the same day if it is broken or missing.
- Look at the load, the task, the route and yourself before you lift.
- There is no legal weight limit and no weight that is safe for everyone. If in doubt, split it or get help.
- Keep the load close, lift smoothly and turn with your feet.
- Report aches early, and speak up about lifts that are awkward.
Questions to ask the group
Ask them one at a time and wait for an answer. What you hear is the most useful part of the talk, so write it down.
- "Which lift on this job do you least like doing, and why?" You are listening for the task that needs redesigning: too heavy, too low, too far, too often.
- "Where is the nearest trolley or lifting aid to where you work, and is it in working order?" If nobody knows, or it is in the wrong building, that is your first action.
- "What do you check before you pick something up?" You want to hear weight, grip and route. If you hear only "bend your knees", go over the four things again.
- "Has anyone had a twinge or an ache from lifting in the last month?" Follow up privately afterwards with anyone who says yes.
The law behind the talk
You do not need to read this part out. It is here so that you can answer questions and know the talk is sound.
Regulation 4 of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 sets out three steps for the employer, in order:
- Avoid. So far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for employees to do manual handling that involves a risk of injury.
- Assess. Where it cannot be avoided, make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the handling.
- Reduce. Take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to the lowest level reasonably practicable.
The same regulation requires the employer to give employees general indications and, where it is reasonably practicable, precise information on the weight of each load, and on its heaviest side where the weight is not central. Regulation 5 puts a duty on employees: to make full and proper use of the system of work the employer provides. That is why the talk says the trolley is expected, not optional.
Weight limits. HSE's guidance says: "The weight of a load is important, though the law does not set specific weight limits." HSE does publish guideline weights for lifting and lowering at different heights and distances from the body. They are part of what HSE calls a risk filter, and HSE is clear that they "are not 'safe limits' for lifting and carrying". A lift inside the guideline, done in good conditions, is treated as low risk. A lift outside it, or one that involves twisting, team handling or lifting more often than once every two minutes, needs a more detailed assessment. So do not quote the figures to your team as limits.
Technique and training. The lifting steps in the talk follow HSE's guidance on good handling technique. HSE says good technique is not a substitute for lifting aids or for improving the task, and that training "won't ensure safe manual handling on its own". The talk helps. Changing the job helps more.
After the talk
- Record it. Topic, date, the key points, who was there and who was not.
- Act on what you heard. If the team named a lift they hate, look at it this week. Can the load be split, stored at waist height, or moved with an aid?
- Catch up with anyone who missed it. They do the same lifting.
- Update the risk assessment if the talk showed that a task is done differently from the way it is written down.
- Come back to it. Give the talk again when the loads, the equipment or the team change. The law sets no fixed interval.
There are more subjects in our list of toolbox talk topics, and a second talk written to be read out: the working at height toolbox talk.
Recording this talk in SafetyPro360
In SafetyPro360 you can record this talk with its title, topic, date, duration and the key points above. You choose who was required to attend and mark who did, and anyone who missed it stays on an outstanding list until they have had the talk. A lift the team raised as a problem can be entered as an action with a person and a due date. The product keeps the record. It does not contain the talk itself and does not collect signatures.
Questions people ask
What should a manual handling toolbox talk cover?
Using lifting aids before lifting by hand, what to look at before a lift (the load, the task, the route and the person), a basic safe lifting technique, pushing and pulling, and reporting aches early. It should use examples from your own work and end with questions, so that the team tells you which lifts are causing trouble.
Is there a legal weight limit for lifting at work?
No. HSE says the law does not set specific weight limits. HSE publishes guideline weights as part of a risk filter, and says they are not safe limits. A lift within the guideline in good conditions is treated as low risk. A lift outside it needs a more detailed assessment. What is safe depends on the load, the task, the place and the person.
How long should a manual handling toolbox talk take?
About ten minutes. The script on this page takes around five minutes to read at a normal pace, and the demonstration and the four questions take the rest. If it runs much longer, people stop listening. Save anything else for a second talk on a related subject, such as pushing and pulling or team lifts.
Does a toolbox talk count as manual handling training?
It is a refresher, not the whole of the training. HSE says manual handling training should be relevant to the work and include practical work, so that the trainer can spot and correct anything a person is not doing safely. A ten-minute talk reminds trained people of the main points. A new starter needs the practical training as well.
How often should a manual handling toolbox talk be given?
There is no fixed period in law. Training must be repeated periodically where appropriate, which leaves the interval to you. Many firms give this talk once a year, and again whenever the loads, the equipment or the way of working change, when new people join the team, or after someone reports an injury.
Where this comes from
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 5 (legislation.gov.uk)
- HSE: Manual handling at work, overview
- HSE: Assess manual handling you cannot avoid
- HSE: Simple manual handling risk filters
- HSE: Good handling technique
- HSE: Manual handling training
This guide is general information for small employers in Great Britain, checked against the sources above on the date shown. It is not legal advice. If something serious depends on it, check the source or ask a competent adviser.