Articles

The aged care industry is in for a shake-up with changes to WorkCover NSW insurance premium reform.

We believe the WorkCover reforms will act as an incentive for organisations to improve and promote safety at work in addition to providing injured workers with immediate support following a workplace injury.

Effective on-site health programs, targeted education and pre-employment screenings are interventions demonstrated to be beneficial for organisations keen to improve their safety culture and injury frequency rate.

In this sector, pre-employment screening, periodic and onsite prevention programs are not commonplace. Despite the significant risks posed by the inherent requirements of the jobs in this sector, some aged care facilities do not conduct pre-employment and/or periodic health screenings at all; leaving them exposed to a multitude of safety and claims risks.

Establishing policies and procedures for pre-employment and periodic screenings will help ensure; health, well-being, claims and injury prevention in your workplace. These include:

• Mandatory yearly drug and alcohol testing for staff.
• Functional examinations of workers’ flexibility, strength and lifting capacity in accordance with the inherent requirements of the job.
• Regular mental health checks to measure client’s emotional resilience for operationally critical roles.
• Manual handling risk assessments to ensure staff are aware of appropriate techniques.
• Employee Assistance Programmes to support and empower workers suffering from distress impacting on their productivity.
• Resilience training for managers who have to operate in high stress environments.

In recent months we have come across facilities that do not implement efficacious screening processes- for some, this consists of the candidate taking a trip to their local GP and ticking off HR policy and procedural requirements. In an already under-resourced sector, evidence based risk assessment is essential in identifying future team members who may not be fit for your work environment.

In a sector where the likelihood of injury is 40% higher and is considered a priority area of Safe Work Australia and the Australian government; health screening is the cheapest form of risk mitigation expenditure. It has been identified that non screened employees are 33% more at risk of sustaining an injury when compared with a screened employee.

Having industry trained allied health professionals examine potential employees using relevant, standardised measures aligned to the job descriptions are the way to reduce the incidence of injury and claims in the workplace.

Learn more by phoning us on 1300 669 552, or email us at info@actevate.com.au