The health care and social assistance sector has again laid claim to the shameful statistic of leading the country in terms of injuries sustained at work.
A Safe Work Australia report has found that 21 603 health care and social assistance workers sustained a serious injury at work in the 2021 reporting period, accounting for a 10% increase from the previous reporting period. Serious injuries are considered to be those which require a worker to be absent for a week or longer on workers compensation.
These injuries in the health care and social assistance sector account for 18% of all injuries sustained by workers in the workplace.
Comparatively, other industries usually considered more “dangerous” such as construction and manufacturing account for just 13% and 12% respectively.
According to the research, this means that 12.3 health care workers were injured for every 1 000 workers in the industry.
NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association General Secretary, Brett Holmes, indicated that improvements must be made in the sector to keep nurses and midwives safe.
“Nurses and midwives are highly regarded community members. They deserve better,” he said.
“No-one should feel unsafe in the workplace”.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association is leading the charge on ensuring health care workplaces are safer for staff. To find out more about our Safer Work, Safer Care campaign, visit our website.