Module 2 of 2 · 45 minutes
Equipment, slings and the person on the floor
By the end of this module you will be able to
- Select and check a sling correctly, and explain why size and type matter
- Carry out pre use checks on a hoist, including LOLER dates
- Manage a fallen person safely, including when not to move them
- Handle bariatric and unpredictable transfers within your competence
Work through it
1 interactive for this module, built on the WAJD Teach engine. Nothing moves until you ask it to, and every one has a written version if you would rather read it.
Amara Hoists frighten me more than anything else in this job.
Nadia Then here is something reassuring and something not. Hoists themselves very rarely fail. Slings fail constantly.
Amara Why slings?
Nadia Because they are the part people improvise with. A sling is person specific and size specific, prescribed in that individual's handling plan. And the commonest failure in the country is somebody grabbing a different size because the right one is in the wash.
Amara What happens then?
Nadia Too large and they slide through it. Too small and it cuts in, restricts breathing and puts the load in completely the wrong place.
Amara And types? A sling is a sling.
Nadia It really is not, and this is the dangerous one. A universal or hammock sling supports the whole body. An access or toileting sling leaves the back open and gives far less support.
Amara So the toileting one is only for?
Nadia Somebody with genuine trunk control who can hold themselves upright. Fit one of those to a person who cannot, and you have suspended somebody with almost nothing supporting their back. It is one of the most dangerous single errors anybody makes with this equipment.
Amara What do I check before using one?
Nadia Fraying, cuts, stretched stitching, and the label. And if the label is illegible, that sling is out of service.
Amara Out of service over a label?
Nadia Over a label. Without it you cannot confirm the size, the safe working load or the last inspection. And a sling that fails does so with a human being suspended in mid air.
Amara And the hoist itself?
Nadia Ninety seconds. Battery charged. Emergency lowering understood and reachable, which people never check until they need it. Castors and brakes. Legs opening and closing. Spreader bar and hooks. LOLER dates on both.
Amara Anything about the room?
Nadia Clear the route first. A hoist transfer over a rucked rug is how a hoist tips, and it takes four seconds to look.
Amara Right. Somebody is on the floor. What do I do?
Nadia Not what your instinct says, which is to get them up. Assess before anybody touches them.
Amara What am I looking for?
Nadia Did they hit their head. Are they on anticoagulants, because a head injury on a blood thinner is a different situation entirely. Pain, deformity, and particularly a leg that looks shortened and rotated outwards.
Amara Which means?
Nadia Classic fractured neck of femur. Move that person and you have made a bad injury much worse. Keep them warm, keep them comfortable, call for help.
Amara And if they are genuinely uninjured?
Nadia If they can assist, a supervised assisted rise using furniture is fine. If they cannot, lifting cushion or hoist with a floor recovery sling.
Amara Never manually?
Nadia Never. Lifting somebody off the floor by hand is precisely where carers destroy their backs, and it is a completely avoidable injury.
Amara Do I record a fall where nobody was hurt?
Nadia Especially those, and this is the bit people skip because it feels like paperwork about nothing. One fall is an event. Three falls is a diagnosis waiting to be made, and the pattern only exists if somebody wrote down the two where nothing happened.
The written material
Slings are the part that hurts people
Hoists rarely fail. Slings fail constantly, and almost always because the wrong one was used or it was fitted badly.
A sling is person specific and size specific. It is prescribed in the handling plan for that individual, and using a different size because the right one is in the wash is how somebody slides out. Too large and they slip through. Too small and it cuts, restricts breathing and puts load in the wrong place.
Types are not interchangeable either. A universal or hammock sling supports the whole body. An access or toileting sling leaves the back open and offers much less support, so it is only for somebody with genuine trunk control. Fitting a toileting sling to a person who cannot hold themselves upright is one of the most dangerous single errors in the trade.
- Right person, right size, right type, every time
- Check for fraying, cuts, stretched stitching and a legible label
- Check the LOLER date: accessories at least every 6 months, hoists at least every 12
- Check the loop configuration matches the plan, and that both sides match each other
- If the label is illegible, the sling is out of service, because you cannot prove its size or its rating
Pre use checks that take ninety seconds
Before every hoist transfer: battery charged, emergency lowering understood and reachable, castors and brakes working, legs opening and closing, spreader bar and hooks undamaged, and the LOLER inspection in date on both hoist and sling.
Then the person: are they well enough for this transfer today, do they know what is about to happen, and is the floor clear of the route you are about to take. A hoist transfer over a rucked rug is how a hoist tips.
Two people means two people. One operates, one guides and reassures. Alone you cannot do both, and there is nobody to steady the person if the sling shifts.
The person on the floor
The instinct is to get them up quickly, and it is the wrong instinct.
Assess before moving. Did they hit their head, are they on anticoagulants, is there pain, deformity, shortening or external rotation of a leg, which suggests a fractured neck of femur. Do not move anybody with a suspected spinal injury or fracture: keep them warm, keep them comfortable, and call for help.
If they are uninjured and can assist, a supervised assisted rise from the floor using furniture is reasonable. If they cannot assist, use a lifting cushion or a hoist with a floor recovery sling. Manual lifting from the floor is not an option, and it is where carers permanently injure their backs.
Record every fall, including unwitnessed ones, and record the ones where nobody was hurt. One fall is an event. Three falls is a diagnosis waiting to be made, and the pattern only exists if somebody wrote each one down.
Knowledge check
The knowledge check and your certificate need a free account, so that your progress and results can be saved as evidence.
The learning itself stays free and open. You are reading all of it right now without an account.