Mount St Josephs

Manual handling program

Mt St Joseph's Home in Young, NSW has been recognised with a Better Practice in Aged Care Award for its manual handling program.

The award has been made in recognition of the significant improvement Mt St Joseph's Home has achieved in its safety record as a result of the program.

In 1998, in addressing a signficant problem being experienced with a high number of workers compensation insurance claims and costs, an analysis of data clearly identified manual handling as being the most significant risk to staff safety in the workplace.

As a consequence of these findings, Mt St Joseph's Home embarked upon a major quality improvement program designed to reduce the frequency of manual handling incidents thus making a significant contribution towards improving occupational health and safety in the workplace generally.

The program was developed by Jenny Jubb, the home's former manual handling trainer and occupational therapist. The manual handling needs of each resident is assessed on initial assessment in consultation with the resident and carer. The manual handling program for each resident is provided on a laminated sheet which is kept in the wardrobe in each resident's room. The information sheet indicates clearly any equipment required and the number of staff required for each manual handling activity. The resident's care plan also reflects updated information on manual handling and any changes that may be required.

The home has two accredited manual handling trainers on staff. Other members of staff are trained as manual handling advisors whose role is to be available for consultation by staff and assist in monitoring manual handling work practices throughout the home.

The home's manual handling training program consists of two modules - Core skills 1 and core skills 2. Core skills 1 provides all staff with a general overview of manual handling. Core skills 2 focuses more on the particular skills relevant to the employee's particular role. All staff undertake both core skills 1 and core skills 2 on an annual basis and are formally assessed on their competency. In 2004/2005, 100% of nursing and hotel services staff successfully completed their manual handling competency assessment.

All new employees receive two days manual handling orientation with another member of staff and are provided with written information on manual handling requirements.

The program has been very effective in reducing both the incidence of workplace injury and a significant reduction in workers compensation insurance premiums.

In 1998 there were a total of 19 manual handling incidents reported resulting in five workers compensation claims. As a result of the program, in 2005 there were three manual handling incidents reported, two of which resulted in a workers compensation claim of a minor nature.

Workers compensation as a percentage of total wages costs has reduced from an average of 7.2% for the three years 1998-2001 to an average of 3.3% for the four-year period 2001 to 2005.

The same program operates at Mercy Care Centre and similar improvement in occupational health and safety has occurred resulting in significant savings in workers compensation insurance costs.