I use a box of 5 reams of paper (standard office paper outer box) but it has a coffee jar only in it - half full of water. Those asked to lift often assume it contains paper. If you can't get the coffee jar then a puppy, kitten or hedgehog will do!

I always like to: Hand out two very different objects - eg box of paper and a lump of metal found in engineering :) (anything will do) Then ask people to guess the weights - if all goes well you will get wildly different answers for each, the point being it's hard to judge how much something weighs.

Hi There are many options - very much dependent upon the time available, previous experience of the group, tasks which they perform and their likely level of receptiveness or lack of! Here are a few ideas I suggest to trainers during the City & Guilds Manual Handling Train the Trainer course http://www.abromhead.co....ng-train-the-trainer.asp : - Make it as practical as possible; manual handling is by definition, a practical topic - Make it as interactive as possible - get the participants to do the work! How about using a few photos or a video clips of the participants doing their day job as a springboard to discussing potential improvements - Similarly, the HSE video clips from their Better Backs campaign are useful. There is one of a cheese turner which can be used for various groups exercises - such as identifying the problems, describing the injuries which could result & suggesting improvements. Then do something similar with in-house video or a discussion of the tasks completed. - How about splitting the participants into groups of 2 or 3 to have a practice on typical workplace loads. In each sub-group, one person can have a go whilst the others act as the trainer. Meantime you can circulate and advise. Finally, each group demonstrates their suggested ideal technique to the wider audience with point scoring if you like. - Avoid the DVD's! Most are too long, of dubious relevance and the attendees focus on the out-of-date haircuts more than the message they are intended to convey! Hope it goes well;