ABSTRACT
The control of manual handling operations is part of the broader risk management that occurs in a workplace and therefore of the corporate “safety climate”. The management questionnaire was designed to measure attitudes on aspects of the constructs of “Corporate Safety Climate”; “Management Commitment”; “Cultural Profile” and “Risk Management Systems”. Questionnaires were returned by 241 managers. Almost all (83%) care homes were privately owned with the remainder run by local authorities or charities. Usable workforce questionnaires were returned by 860 individuals employed in 84 care homes. The majority of responses across the sample as a whole were positive or very positive, indicating that the workforce perceived a very high standard of manual handling safety management within their care homes. Organisations within the care homes sector should be encouraged to maintain, and even raise, the present high standard of manual handling risk management systems.
