Using An Oxford Hoist: Safety Precautions

Summary: Learn how to use a hoist safely with Oxford Healthcare’s insightful guidance, ensuring both caregiver and patient safety at all times. This resource provides instructions on using a hoist, highlighting the importance of correct equipment choice, pre-use checks, and routine maintenance. It is not intended to be an exhaustive guide, and it is always recommended to consult the product’s user instruction guide for product specific guidance. For professional carers, working in healthcare facilities, clinical training is essential to understand and carry out manual handling duties in accordance with qualified techniques and industry best practice.

If you or a loved one is considering using a hoist, it’s understandable that you’d want to learn how to operate that hoist safely. Whether you’ve had hoist training or not, if you’re looking for information on how to use a hoist, here at Oxford Healthcare, we are here to support you.

Oxford Healthcare is one of the world’s leading providers of patient lifting and handling equipment, including hoists and slings. The lifting equipment we supply is designed to prioritise the safety and comfort of the user as well as the caregiver. This ethos during product development processes ensures Oxford products, when used correctly, help deliver the safest levels of care.

Why Use a Hoist?

When considering how to use a hoist, we must take into account the reasoning behind using the hoist in the first place. A hoist’s core purpose is to facilitate the lift and transfer of someone from one place to another, specifically, when a person does not have the required level of mobility in order to stand and move themselves safely without assistance. There are many circumstances that can result in someone needing to use a hoist. These include:

  • Ageing
  • Acute injury
  • Disability

Hoist Safety

Using a patient hoist is generally a much safer option to move a patient than when employing more manual techniques which are much more likely to put your own body under stress and at risk of injury. There are however a number of important factors that must be considered before operating or using patient lifting equipment.

The following factors are just some of the considerations to take into account prior to engaging in any lifting or transfer activity. These points should all form part of a thorough risk assessment to ensure all activity is conducted safely and with all risks mitigated, whether associated with the patient, the environment, or the equipment. Indeed, it will be a combination of these factors that require due diligence.

Correct Equipment Choice(s)

Incorrectly sized slings or the wrong type of hoist can mean that the person using the device is not supported appropriately or safely. At best, this can result in discomfort for the patient. At worst, it will create significant risks to the health and safety of both patient and caregiver. Poor equipment selection can result in a hoist overturning during use, a patient falling out of a sling, leading to serious injury.

It is crucially important that before using patient handling equipment, you are in no doubt it is appropriate for the patient, their specific conditions, physical and cognitive abilities and also the type of transfer you intend to take place. Ask yourself, is the sling designed for that purpose? Is it the right size? Is it compatible with the hoist? Will it provide adequate support for the patient? These are just some of the things to consider prior to any lifting taking place.

Safe Working Load

Directly related to appropriate equipment selection is to ensure the safe working load of said equipment is compatible with the patient. Before using a hoist, you must ensure the patient’s weight falls within the hoist’s weight capacity restrictions. Overloading a sling and/or hoist is inherently dangerous and compromises the safety of both the patient and caregiver.

Equipment Checks

Over time, equipment can deteriorate through regular use and general wear and tear. For example, the fabric of a sling can become weakened through extensive washing and drying cycles. Oxford Healthcare always advise a visual check before each and every use, to ensure the sling remains in a safe, usable condition for continued use. Using bleached, torn, cut, frayed or broken slings is unsafe and may result in serious injury to the patient.

Similarly, hoists require pre-use checks to ensure they are safe for use. Checking sling attachment points for signs of wear, framework for any obvious weaknesses such as hairline cracks, loose fittings, etc. If in any doubt, seek a second opinion or refrain from using the equipment until a competent person is able to assess the equipment and advise on its continued safety.

Make Sure No Obstacles Are in the Way

Ensure a clear space in the immediate environment to safely manoeuvre the patient and provide the caregiver plenty of room to handle the equipment. We design many of our hoists compactly to improve use in living rooms and other spaces where objects and furniture may limit space. Identify and assess slip and trip hazards along with any obstructions that could interfere with a lift and transfer to minimise risk and maximise safety.

Hoist Maintenance

In the UK, in professional care facilities, patient lifting equipment must be inspected at 6 monthly intervals, as specified by the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER). At Oxford Healthcare, we provide service, maintenance and installation training, where engineers and non-authorised service providers alike, can learn how to inspect, service, repair, and maintain Oxford lifting equipment in tune with the latest LOLER standards. Where equipment is purchased personally for use in a person’s own home, LOLER inspections for lifting equipment are not considered mandatory unless it is directly related to ‘Work activity’, for example a paid carer is conducting the lifting and transfer activity. That said, many retailers offer service packages for added peace of mind, in much the same way as motor vehicle servicing.

Where equipment demands inspection, items that fail to conform to the requirements of LOLER and are considered to be a risk to the on-going health and safety of patients and caregivers, must be immediately decommissioned pending full repair or replacement as required.

Contact Us Today

We hope you have found the above guidance on how to use a hoist helpful. If you have any further questions on using any of our Oxford lifts, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or visit our website for more information. Alternatively, call 0344 811 1158 to speak to a member of our helpful and friendly team.

If you have found this blog helpful, you may wish to read our previous blog: Patient Handling Solutions For Post-acute Care.

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