Patient and Resident Handling Assessments in Alberta

Section 209.2 asks employers whose workers lift, transfer or reposition people to set up a safe handling program. The program has to be checked once a year to see how well it prevents worker injuries.

Section 211.1 adds training. Workers at risk of strain injury learn the risk factors, the early signs and symptoms, and the ways to prevent injury, such as changed procedures, lift aids and protective equipment.

Start with the moves your staff do most and the ones they dread. In continuing care, that often means bed to chair transfers, repositioning in bed, toileting help, bathing, and helping a resident up from a fall.

Ask the care aides. They know which rooms, which beds and which times of day make a transfer harder.

Write down the task, where it happens, and how often it happens per shift. Note the resident's level of help needed, the lift aid used, and the space around the bed or chair.

Then look at the worker. Note reach, trunk lean, twisting, and whether one side does most of the work. Note how many staff do the move and whether they move together.

Part 14 asks you to consider the worker's capacity before people handling. In practice, that means matching the task to the staff member: their training, their experience with the lift aid, and any limits they have told you about.

Keep this respectful and private. The goal is a safe match between the task and the person, not a score on the worker.

Fix the task first. Use the right lift aid, raise the bed to working height, clear space around the chair, and plan two-person moves for residents who need more help.

Then support the people. Train on each lift aid, refresh that training, and rotate staff on heavy units. Check the move again after a change to see if it worked.

Staff report soreness after a certain move. A lift aid is often skipped because it is slow or hard to reach. Transfers happen in tight rooms or bathrooms. New staff learn the move by watching others. Night shifts have fewer hands for two-person moves.

Any one of these is a reason to assess that transfer again, even if it was assessed last year.

Part 2 of the OHS Code asks employers to involve affected workers in hazard assessment. In care, that means the aides and nurses who do the moves. They know the shortcuts people take and why.

Residents and families matter too. A resident who knows the plan for a transfer is often calmer and more able to help. That makes the move safer for everyone.

Bring a short list: the transfers you assessed, the risk rank for each, the controls you chose, and the date you will check again. Add any symptom reports tied to those moves. Ask the committee which transfer to look at next.

A transfer takes seconds, which makes it hard to judge by eye. A short phone video of the move, with consent and with the resident out of frame or covered, can be replayed and slowed down.

GRW Movement reads the video and measures trunk lean, knee alignment, left and right balance, and pace for the worker. You get a written report to add to your assessment and to your yearly program review. The video is deleted once it is read.

Section 211.1 asks for training on risk factors, early signs and symptoms, and ways to prevent injury. Short, hands-on sessions at the bedside work better than a long class. Practise with the real lift aids in the real rooms.

Refresh the training when a new lift aid arrives, when a resident's needs change, and after a symptom report on that unit.

Section 209.2 asks for a yearly look at how well the program prevents injuries. Dated before and after records of key transfers make that review easier. They show which changes worked and which tasks still need work.