Minimising the risks of injury for older workers in health and community services

The size of Australia's population aged 65 and over is projected to more than double from 2016 to 2056 [1]. This growth is accompanied by a larger participation of older Australians in the workforce [2].

What do we know about injuries to older workers?

Compared to other industries, health and community services currently have the largest number of employees who are aged 60 years and over. All workers in these industries face risks that can lead to workplace injury or illness; however, when older workers are injured, recovery times are often longer.

During icare's 2020 workers compensation insurance policy year, 1,315 claims were recorded in the healthcare industry for this age group. These claims recorded on average 56 days off work, and the top two injuries were:

  1. Falls, trips and slips; for example, slipping on a wet floor.
  2. Body stressing; for example, muscular stress when transferring patients.

Here's how you, as an employer, can help to identify and minimise risks to older workers.

Understand the risks for an ageing workforce

Employers have a duty of care to provide workplaces that are as safe as reasonably practicable for all workers.

We recommend employers set aside time to understand what injuries commonly occur amongst older workers and why they are occurring. These are the first important steps towards knowing how to mitigate injury risks and preventing them in the future. This will also help to reduce the associated costs – which can be significant.

To help to better understand your workers' risks you can:

  • Proactively speak with employees about actual and potential risks.
  • Collect data on injuries, and regularly review all incidents to identify trends and opportunities to improve safety.
  • Proactively identify hazards in the workplace that can lead to physical and psychological injuries.
  • Complete risk assessments of workplace hazards (including hazardous manual tasks) using a consultative approach.
  • Research what similar organisations do to minimise risk and apply their successful injury prevention strategies.

How to minimise risks

Once an employer understands the risks in their workplace that might particularly affect older workers, it will be easier to take tailored steps to mitigate those risks.

Employers can consider:

  • Regularly reviewing the type of work being done by all employees, to ensure workers can do their job safely.
  • Offer options to modify work if a worker's abilities have changed, including flexible working arrangements.
  • Encouraging a supportive culture in the workplace, with open communication so workers can raise any changes in their needs or abilities without concern about job security.
  • Ensure safe systems of work are in place by adopting the concepts of good work design [3], including opportunities for self-pacing, minimising exposure to high forces or repetitive tasks, and considering different options for shift times.
  • Adopting blended roles where roles involving high-intensity manual tasks can incorporate lighter duties as people age.
  • Rotating physically demanding or repetitive tasks among workers.
  • Providing training on injury prevention, especially tailored training for older workers.

In summary, every workplace is different so employers should tailor what they do to prevent injuries. Employers can help to build older workers' resilience by supporting them in all aspects of their work. Like younger workers, older workers are more likely to remain in the workforce if they feel supported and are working in a healthy and safe working environment.

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