Health care sector injuries the biggest cost
WorkSafe Victoria has launched a concerted assault on the state’s biggest source of workplace injuries which cost the community $600 million a year in medical treatment and rehabilitation bills.
New television advertisements show the graphic and instant, consequences of manual handling injuries and slips, trips and falls in the health and aged care sectors as well as other industries.
Statewide and across all industries, they account for more than 60% of all reported workplace injuries – more than 17,000 a year.
The average cost of treating these people through Victoria’s workers compensation system averages $45,000 per claim and the average time off work is 10 weeks.
WorkSafe’s executive director, John Merritt, said the issue was enormous in the health and aged care sectors where individuals suffered greatly, often long-term, from what were almost always totally preventable injuries.
“For employers productivity is cut, there may be staff replacement costs, retraining and safety improvements to be made after the event. Industries lose people permanently.”
WorkSafe inspectors will back-up the campaign with workplace visits targeting these issues over the next few months.
Target sectors for both parts of the campaign are injuries that cause:
- back pain
- muscular sprains and sprains
- soft tissue injuries to the neck, arms, shoulders and legs
- abdominal hernias
- carpal tunnel syndrome
- tendonitis
- fractures and dislocations
A special website has also been set up at http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/backonsafety
