Manual handling training online in Ireland: what the HSA expects, where an online course fits, and how often to refresh

The law

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 is the framework. Section 8 requires every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of employees, including the provision of information, instruction, training and supervision. Section 13 puts duties on employees too: to co-operate, to use what is provided and to attend training.

Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007) is the manual handling chapter. It requires the employer to take organisational measures or use mechanical equipment to avoid manual handling of loads, to assess the handling that cannot be avoided and reduce the risk, and to make sure employees receive general indications and, where possible, precise information on the weight of each load and the centre of gravity of its heaviest side.

Section 19 of the 2005 Act requires the risk assessment to be written down, and section 20 requires a safety statement. Manual handling appears in almost every Irish safety statement for that reason.

What the HSA says about training

The HSA's manual handling training system FAQs, read on 9 November 2026, set out a framework rather than a legal minimum. The HSA prepared manual handling training guidance and agreed QQI Level 6 as the level for manual handling instructors. Under that framework:

• Manual handling training at workplace level should be delivered by a QQI Level 6 Manual Handling Instructor, who can be external or in-house.
• The content should meet Appendix 3 of the HSA's Guidance on the Manual Handling Training System (2010 revision).
• Asked whether online manual handling training constitutes appropriate training on its own, the HSA's answer is that training needs to be carried out in line with the framework. The framework is guidance on best practice; an employer can use other means to comply with the law provided they can prove those means are equivalent and afford the same level of protection.
• There is no set refresher interval, but the HSA recommends refresher training at intervals of not more than three years, or sooner when work practices change.
• The HSA does not keep a list of approved instructors, and a Level 6 instructor does not need to register with QQI to train employees.

The practical reading for an Irish employer is this: the knowledge can be taught online, and a dated certificate is useful evidence, but the HSA expects the workplace-level training, including the practical element with your own loads, to be delivered by a Level 6 instructor.

What an online course can do

• Teach the knowledge: how injuries build up, the avoid, assess and reduce approach, how to assess a load, and good technique for lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling.
• Induct new starters before their first shift, so the instructor-led session can concentrate on technique.
• Give a dated, verifiable record for the training file, which inspectors ask to see.
• Refresh the knowledge in year three, before the practical refresher.

Lift College's Manual Handling Training (Ireland) is 2 hours in 5 modules, written for the Republic of Ireland with the 2005 Act, the 2007 Regulations and the HSA. It is priced in euros. It costs €22.99, pay once, with 14-day money back. The course page says in its own FAQ that it is the employee awareness course, not the HSA instructor route.

What it cannot do

• Replace the workplace-level training the HSA framework says a QQI Level 6 instructor should deliver.
• Make anyone a manual handling instructor. The QQI Level 6 Manual Handling Instruction award involves classroom and practical assessment with a registered provider.
• Stand in for the employer's own risk assessment of the loads in that workplace.

How often to refresh

Every three years at most, on the HSA's recommendation, and sooner when a new system of work or new handling equipment comes in. Lift College's recommended refresh matches that: three years, and the refresher is free.

Where to go next

• See the course: Manual Handling Training (Ireland).
• Moving people rather than loads? In Ireland that is the separate People Handling route; the course explains the difference.
• Browse all Ireland courses, priced in euros and written for Irish law.
• Working in the UK instead? The UK edition is Manual Handling Training.