First aged care health and safety manual launched
Chief Executive Officer of Leading Age Services Australia – Victoria (LASA Victoria) Trevor Carr launched the LASA Aged Care Health and Safety Manual in Melbourne last week.
Chief Executive Officer of Leading Age Services Australia – Victoria (LASA Victoria) Trevor Carr launched the LASA Aged Care Health and Safety Manual last week.
The manual is the first comprehensive set of peer reviewed template policies and procedures for residential and home care providers.
Like all employers, aged care providers have a legal and moral obligation to effectively manage health and safety in their workforce.
“By its nature, aged care presents many challenges to the effective management of workplace health and safety. Currently, the aged care workforce has a high incidence of injury from performing manual tasks such as moving or transferring patients,” Mr Carr says.
“A recent aged care workforce census indicated that over three-quarters of aged care providers reported a work-related injury,” he says.
The LASA Aged Care Health and Safety Manual was developed by LASA Victoria and the Health and Safety Manual Working Group, in order to assist the aged care industry meet those health and safety challenges and improve its safety performance.
Mr Carr says injury and risk of injury impacts the retention and attraction of health professionals in aged care. “It is expected that the aged care workforce will need to expand from 352,100 to 827,100 employees by 2050,” Mr Carr says. “Retaining and increasing aged care workforce is critical when meeting the demand of an ageing Australia.”
Mr Carr says aged care workplace injuries in Victoria reach more than $9 million a year with the average cost per claim estimated to be $50,000. “Managing workplace health and safety will positively impact an aged care provider’s long term financial sustainability but will also contribute to delivering high quality, flexible and responsive care.”
“The manual will reduce the duplication of effort required to draft complex health and safety policies, allowing more time for aged care providers to proactively address in-field safety issues,” Mr Carr says.
For more information on the LASA Aged Care Health and Safety Manual contact the LASA Victoria office on (03) 9805 9415.
