Caring for someone who has a physical illness or disability comes with a number of health and safety considerations, including how to avoid injury. Whether you’re a professional or caring for a loved one, you are likely to be helping to lift, move and handle the person you are looking after and it’s important to know how to do this correctly.

The role of a carer

The types of things you may be responsible for include helping someone to get in and out of bed, turning over and sitting up. In the bathroom, they may need assistance with showering, bathing and using the toilet.

They may also need general help to move about, going from sitting to standing or getting into a vehicle. All of these duties involve manual handling and require training in order for a carer to know how to do them safely and avoid injury.

Health and social care providers have a responsibility to ensure their staff are trained and employers must reduce the risk of injury by assessing risk and putting measures in place to avoid risk.

For those who are thinking about care assistant jobs Louth, agencies such as www.caremark.ie/job-opportunities/care-assistant-jobs-louth/ will ensure they have the appropriate training and risk assessments.

Common injuries

In terms of injury, the most common are back injuries, due to unsafe lifting and handling. If you injure your back as a carer, it will impact on your ability to carry out caring duties, as your movement will be limited. A back injury can take several weeks or even months to recover from.

If you lift the person you are caring for incorrectly, you may cause them injury such as bruising or cuts, so if you are regularly lifting or moving someone, you must be shown the correct techniques from a healthcare professional first.

Training

Some local authorities provide free training and councils are obliged to help carers in avoiding risks to health and safety. You can ask for both a needs assessment and a carer’s assessment, as well as an occupational therapy assessment.