Manual Handling Training: How VR Can Improve Workplace Safety
Manual handling training is an important part of workplace health and safety. Every day, employees across construction, warehouses, factories, healthcare, retail, hospitality and offices are required to lift, carry, push, pull or move objects.
When these tasks are carried out incorrectly, they can lead to injuries, lost working days and long-term health problems.
Traditional manual handling training teaches employees the correct techniques, but Virtual Reality (VR) can take that training further by allowing people to practise manual handling techniques in realistic workplace situations without the real-world risk.
What Is Manual Handling Training?
Manual handling covers more than simply lifting a heavy box. It can include lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, pulling, moving or supporting a load.
Good manual handling training can help employees understand how to assess a task before attempting it and how to reduce unnecessary risks.
Training can cover:
- Assessing a load before moving it
- Correct lifting and lowering techniques
- Safe body positioning
- Identifying potential hazards
- Understanding personal limitations
- Using appropriate handling equipment
- Team lifting
- Safe pushing and pulling
- Planning a route before moving a load
- Knowing when to ask for assistance
How Can VR Help with Manual Handling Training?
VR can place an employee inside a realistic simulation of their workplace.
Instead of simply watching someone demonstrate the correct lifting technique, the employee becomes part of the scenario.
They might be asked to move equipment around a warehouse, lift materials on a construction site, handle deliveries in a shop or move items within a healthcare environment.
Before starting, they could be required to assess the load, identify hazards, decide whether assistance is required and select the safest way of completing the task.
Learn Through Experience
One of the biggest advantages of VR is that employees can make mistakes safely.
For example, a trainee might attempt to lift an object that is too heavy, fail to check their route or choose an incorrect handling technique.
The VR training system can identify the mistake, explain the potential risk and allow the employee to repeat the exercise correctly.
This creates an interactive learning experience rather than simply asking employees to remember information from a presentation.
Realistic Manual Handling Scenarios
VR manual handling training can be developed around different industries and working environments.
Scenarios could include:
Warehouses and logistics – lifting boxes, moving stock, using handling equipment and identifying obstacles.
Construction – moving materials, equipment and tools around an active construction environment.
Healthcare – handling equipment and practising appropriate procedures in healthcare environments.
Retail – receiving deliveries, stocking shelves and moving products.
Manufacturing – handling components, materials and equipment within a factory.
Hospitality – moving supplies, deliveries, furniture and catering equipment.
The simulation can even be designed to resemble the organisation’s actual workplace.
Spot the Hazard Before You Lift
Manual handling safety starts before an object is moved.
VR can teach employees to look around and assess the situation first.
Is the load too heavy?
Is the route clear?
Is the floor slippery?
Is there somewhere safe to place the object?
Is mechanical assistance available?
Should two people move it?
By presenting these decisions within a realistic scenario, employees can practise recognising risks before an accident happens.
Measure Training Performance
VR training can also provide businesses with measurable results.
Depending on the simulation, the system could record:
- Training completion
- Hazards identified
- Incorrect decisions
- Correct procedures followed
- Time taken
- Assessment scores
- Areas requiring additional training
- Repeat training and improvement
This gives employers greater insight into how employees have performed during their training.
VR Doesn’t Replace Safe Working Practices
VR should complement appropriate workplace training, risk assessments, supervision and safe systems of work.
Its advantage is the ability to give employees additional practical experience in a controlled environment.
Employees can repeat scenarios until they understand the correct procedure without putting themselves, colleagues or equipment at unnecessary risk.
Bringing Manual Handling Training to Life
At High5VR, we develop bespoke VR training and simulation experiences for businesses and organisations.
We can recreate warehouses, factories, construction sites, retail environments and other workplaces, allowing employees to experience realistic manual handling training scenarios before facing similar situations in the real world.
From identifying hazards to selecting the safest way to move a load, VR can turn traditional health and safety training into an interactive experience.
Manual handling training provides the knowledge. VR gives employees the opportunity to practise it.