27 June 2003
Elizabeth Langford, who has worked tirelessly for over a decade to prevent what happened to her happening to other nurses, was rewarded with an Order of Australia on June 9th, 2003.
While Elizabeth is extremely pleased that her work in the area of injury prevention for nurses has been recognised, she is adamant that the belongs to the whole team - from Gwynnyth Evans who set up the Injured Nurses Support Group in 1988, to Jeanette Sdrinis, the current OHS Officer at the Australian Nurses Federation (Vic Branch).
SafetyNet spoke to Elizabeth at her home in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
 Elizabeth Langford |
When did you start nursing?
I began my training in 1971, and in those days it was hospital-based training. I then completed post-graduate studies (Bachelor of Nursing and Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing) in the early 90's, partly in the hope that this would allow me to do 'lighter' work, as by this time I had already had my first lot of spinal surgery.
What happened? I injured my back, of course. It was a gradual thing, where heavy loads aggravated a pre-existing condition. At the time I was working in a large maternity hospital in the labour ward. The hospital closed a 7-bed delivery suite and we lost the staff associated with this, but the number of deliveries did not decrease, despite the claims of management. That meant that the workload of the remaining staff increased dramatically; we were running around on concrete floors, lugging big buckets full of blood and faeces-soiled bed linen, and of course continually bending over women in labour. Three of us ended up having spinal surgery in a 2-year period, and many more of us ended up with back problems. But in some ways what happened to me was positive, because I started to look at what the employer was doing, and got angry.
What did you do?
After my first lot of surgery, I didn't even know that I was eligible for benefits. I saw an article in the ANF's journal "On the Record" about the Injured Nurses Support Group (INSG) and got in touch with them. Gwynnyth Evans (who is now the OHS Officer with the Meat Industry Employees' Union) had obtained money under the then WorkCare system to set up this support and self-help group through the ANF.
The group has been going since then. We have had our ups and downs during the years - for example when our funding was cut during the last Liberal government. But the ANF supported us through this period by allowing us the use of premises and some office assistance.
What is the role of the INSG?
The aim of the INSG is to provide information and support to injured nurses. We have over 300 members, including some who are not union members. The INSG operates a voluntary phone service to support injured nurses, and I have been a co-ordinator there for about seven years.
There's a lot of other work we do to prevent injuries. In some ways various government departments have tried to knock us off - probably because we make a lot of noise. But this award has recognised the valuable work we have done in the area of injury prevention.
What has this work involved, and how did it all begin?
As I said earlier, I got very angry when I saw how badly nurses were being treated. I started off by writing articles for the ANF journal and also sending these to the Age, and trying to see politicians about it. They just weren't interested, and I soon realised I needed to have facts and figures. Belinda Morieson, the then Secretary of the ANF, agreed to support and assist me in a research project to find out what happened to nurses, both before and after they went onto workers' compensation.
A survey was put in the Victorian ANF journal, and based on the 170 responses, I produced a report called "Buried but not Dead: A survey of injured nurses." This was in 1996, and I was flat on my back following more back surgery. I guess you could say it was occupational therapy! The results mirrored earlier studies (including those by WorkCover) but this was the first one that looked at what had happened to nurses after their injuries. The results were horrifying.
I was able to go to the media with the report - The 7.30 Report, The Age and others picked it up and helped make the issue known. This made it easier to put pressure on government and organise a meeting with the then Minister, Rob Knowles. To cut a long story short, along with the ANF, we got a bit of money to do more work and realised that we needed to go much further. With ANF support, we got more money and started to formulate the "No Lifting Policy". They needed a bit of convincing at first - they had considered back injuries to be too big a problem, but once the ANF began to work on it, things really started happening. Louise O'Shea , a nurse in Queensland who was developing a 'no lifting' system, heard me speak on the ABC's Life Matters, and called me. Belinda and Jeanette from the ANF went up to have a look and then organised for Louise to come to Melbourne and did a No Lifting Expo.
"No Lifting" is now official ANF policy. (see the ANF website) The INSG and the ANF have worked with both the Department of Human Services and WorkSafe to prevent injuries to nurses. DHS funding was provided to public health care facilities to implement Back Injury Prevention Programs based on the 'No Lifting' principles. The programs were evaluated externally, and a number of important recommendations were made in the 2002 report. (DHS Media release)
A WorkSafe working group, of which I am a member, recently released the publication Transferring People Safely which comes with a poster which can be placed in hospitals, etc for easy reference.
They have also produced Designing workplaces for safer handling of patients and residents
When is the Awards ceremony?
It's going to be sometime in September or October, and any media coverage will be most welcome - because it will help keep the pressure on the government to keep doing things. I have been disappointed because recent changes in personnel at DHS have led to a downgrading in the status of the Ministerial Committee to an advisory group and I have fears that the project is getting derailed.
Any closing comments?
I would just like to say again that this award is not for me only, but also for all the other people who have put so much time and effort into this work. I would particularly like to thank Jeanette Sdrinis, who with her very small and under-resourced team, does a fabulous job for nurses all over Victoria. The OHS team at the ANF should be bigger.
PostScript
Elizabeth's work is now becoming known overseas. An organisation in the United States, the Work Injured Nurses' Group (WING) has been able to use some of the good work done by Australian and other nurses, including Elizabeth. For more information about WING and some of the international work being done, go to its website.