Here is some websites/material you may find useful:
1 - Unions - The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
- Victorian Branch - eg the Occupational Violence and Aggression: it's never OK campaign
- National Branch OHS & Workers Comp page
- NSW Branch resources: Work Health and Safety Essentials for Nurses and Midwives (2013) and 2104 Guide to Reasonable Hours (which can be downloaded from this page) and Stress Management Booklet for Nurses, with NSW Health.The booklet is an acknowledgment that despite the union's work towards achieving improvements in nurses' employment conditions, 'it remains a fact of life for nurses that we will frequently encounter at situations at work that are physically and emotionally demanding.'
2 - The WorkSafe industry pages:
On these pages you will find a number of publications on workplace design (eg: Designing Better Workplaces for Safer Handling of Patients and Residents) and equipment and furniture.
Documents and resources:
- Transferring people safely - provides a practical guide to managing risk, including handling patients, residents and clients in health, aged care, rehabilitation and disability services. It has been specifically developed to help those working in health services to reduce the incidence and severity of injuries resulting from manual handling.
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Updated: Working Safely in Community Services This is a 100 page publication aimed at managers, employees, contractors, temporary staff and volunteers who work in community services. The publication covers health & safety basics, managing OHS in your workplace, checklists & tools, managing accidents & claims, and resources & links.
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Working Safely in Visiting Health Services A 40 page publication developed for: public and private hospitals; locums within medical practices; nursing and convalescent homes; welfare and charitable homes; paramedical services (therapists and allied health workers); and community health centres. It covers the same range of information as the publication above.
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Occupational violence and aggression: Safety basics - general information on the prevention of OVA in workplaces.
- Designing Workplaces For Safer Handling Of People provides advice on a range of design issues, including the selection of floor coverings in health and aged care facilities to reduce the risk of manual handling injuries from pushing and pulling wheeled equipment.
- Prevention and management of aggression in health services - A handbook for workplaces This handbook provides a framework to identify, prevent and manage aggression and violence in health industry workplaces.
- A number of relevant 'Injury Hotspots' such as Aged Care Services, Disability Services.
3 - Reducing occupational violence in Victorian health services - Information from VicHealth.
4 - From SafeWork Australia:
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Occupational Health and Safety Risk Factors for Rural and Metropolitan Nurses: Comparative results from a national nurses survey - November 2008 [pdf] The then Office of the ASCC (now SafeWork Australia) conducted a survey in February 2007 on occupational exposures in Australian nurses. General results arising from the study were published in 2008 (see above point). The report recommended that an in-depth comparison between rural and metropolitan participants of the survey be undertaken.
This report describes the differences in perceived occupational hazards for rural (or remote) and metropolitan nurses that were found in the 2007 survey in order to inform and facilitate effective policy formulation and OHS intervention.
6 - From the United States
- The official US occupational health and safety research body NIOSH has two web-based 'topic pages'. The latest additions cover occupational respiratory disease surveillance , and hazardous drug exposures in health care
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From the US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), ergonomics guidelines for the nursing home industry . The guidelines recommend the elimination of manual handling of nursing residents by staff to prevent musculoskeletal injuries. The OSHA reviewed existing ergonomics practices and programs, State OSHA programs, as well as available scientific information.
7 - From the ILO:
- Framework guidelines for addressing workplace violence in the health sector: The training manual This manual is a practical, user-friendly tool that builds on the policy approach of the Framework Guidelines. Representatives of governments, employers and workers would be well served to use the manual in training situations, so as to encourage social dialogue among health sector stakeholders and develop, in consultation, approaches to address violence in the workplace.
8 - From the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: the Health Sector section of the site which has information on needlestick injuries, case studies and more.
Last updated September 2019