Manual handling skills and paper darts

Suck it Up Ltd are a hydro excavation business and the team move heavy hoses around and dig holes with shovels so they need good lifting and handling practice to ensure they protect themselves from body stressing injuries.

Their H&S Manager, Doug Knight, contacted the Charter and requested a toolbox talk on manual handling and lifting. We wanted to bring something a little different to our early morning session to get the team thinking about core muscle engagement – so we started off with some belly breathing. Here is a short video on how to belly breathe and how it can help you feel better.

We practiced bending and lifting techniques – keeping our backs straight and relaxed, bending with our knees, engaging and firing our glutes to lift up. We tested these techniques by racing paper darts – the test being how well the guys demonstrated good practice bending and lifting to pick the dart up from where it had landed.

Thank you to the great team at Suck it Up Ltd and your willingness to try a different approach to learning something new in H&S!

 Site visit and toolbox talk with the team at Suck it Up Ltd