WHA LOGO_COLOURED_PNGWHA LOGO_COLOURED_PNGWHA LOGO_COLOURED_PNGWHA LOGO_COLOURED_PNG
  • Home
  • About us
    • Meet the team
    • Careers
  • Services
    • Onsite Treatment
    • Pre-employment Screens
    • Work Hardening
    • Task Analysis
    • Fit-for-task Assessments
    • Task-specific Manual Handling Training
    • Mental Health First Aid Training
  • Resources
  • Articles
  • Contact us
  • Home
  • Careers
  • About us
    • Meet the team
    • Careers
  • Services
    • Onsite Treatment
    • Pre-employment Screens
    • Task Analysis
    • Work Hardening
    • Fit-for-task Assessments
    • Task-specific Manual Handling Training
    • Mental Health First Aid Training
  • Resources
  • Articles
  • Contact us
WHA Menu 1
  • Home
  • About us
  • Services
Adult male performing a squat

What is “work hardening”

and how can it help your workers?

When implemented effectively, work hardening can minimise the risk of injury or early work-related soreness to workers who are new to manual handling roles.

What is work hardening?

Work hardening is a phrase used in a lot of industries that utilise manual labour to describe the process of workers getting used to the physical demands of their role. When the work hardening process is managed well, workers will be better able to adapt to their work environment.

Work Hardening should aim to gradually increase the worker’s physical capabilities and tolerance to load in order to meet the requirements of their tasks. This will help to offset the strain of occupational overuse injuries on workers’ soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments). A work hardening program should be constructed in collaboration with your onsite injury management provider.

“As most work-related musculoskeletal disorders result from chronic exposures, prevention activities designed to eliminate acute injuries should in time also reduce the overall magnitude and severity of these conditions.”

Safe Work Australia

Who should undertake work hardening?

  • New employees: Whether new to the industry or coming from a similar role, new employees will usually benefit from a work hardening program specific to their role.
  • Workers starting a new role within the company: Each role within your company will have its own specific task requirements, so workers are more likely to experience ‘work hardening pains’ after switching to a new role.
  • Workers returning from extended leave or non work-related injury/illness: The longer a worker has been off work (particularly if they are limiting their physical activity) the more de-conditioned they become. A work hardening program can help them quickly return to their usual role.

What are the benefits of work hardening?

  1. It provides support for workers struggling to adapt to the physical demands of their job
  2. Improved employee retention
  3. Reduced reported injury rates/risk of serious injury
  4. It encourages regular physical activity among workers
  5. It teaches workers new self-management skills

When should workers start a work hardening program?

It is optimal to get new employees to start a work hardening program as soon as practically possible. The sooner an employee starts their program, the quicker they will reach the physical level required for their tasks. 

If you plan to move employees to a new role, they can start their work hardening program prior to the move to start slowly building up their strength and conditioning.

How is a work hardening program developed?

A work hardening program should take into consideration the physical demands of each job, the current physical capabilities of the worker, and should be carefully constructed through collaboration with your onsite injury management provider. A work hardening program will commonly take into consideration the type of work, rotations and breaks, and will include appropriate warm up advice and manual handling training.

Your onsite injury management provider will provide workers with strengthening exercises which will allow them to reach the physical requirements of their job. It also gives your provider a chance to catch any early signs of injury and manage this appropriately.

What is “work hardening”? And how can it help your workers?

Work Hardening aims to transition workers into more physically demanding roles, and support and condition new starters for the demands of manual work. Here are some tips that will help to deliver a successful program.

5 tips for a successful Work Hardening program

Want to know more?

Speak to your Workplace Health Provider or schedule a 30 minute online discovery meeting with us and we’ll expand on the benefits of work hardening, share some insights from our recent pilot program, and also answer any questions you might have about how work hardening can enhance your workplace injury prevention and treatment strategy.

Schedule a discovery meeting

Sign up to our monthly enewsletter

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Contact

1300 734 643
helpingyou@workhealthyaus.com.au

Visit

Work Healthy Australia
PO Box 672
Gisborne VIC 3437

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
© Work Healthy Australia. Web Design and Development by Online Tree. Privacy Policy
    WHA Menu 1
    • Home
    • About us
    • Services