Inside some of the city’s most violent jobs
The number of workplace assault cases have doubled in the last year alone, with our health and aged care staff literally on the frontline
THEY couldn’t even call for help.
As a patient unleashed an attack on staff members in the mental health ward of a hospital, the Code Black button was pushed again and again in a desperate attempt to trigger a lockdown and alert police. But the button did not work. And the assault raged on. Even worse, this abuse occurred after pleas for additional security were denied.
Elsewhere, a nurse was asked to perform a procedure usually conducted by a medical doctor with the patient under sedation. Instead, he was beaten so badly he needed surgery.
In an aged care home, an argument broke out late at night between two residents.
A staff member, working alone all night and with no prior training on de-escalation, tried to stop the fight, but instead became the target and was forced to bear crawl to safety.
These are just three workplace cases offered by Maurice Blackburn lawyer Madison Blacklock – and they are far from the only ones.
In fact, the Palm Beach lawyer says the number of workplace assault cases has doubled in the past year.
And that’s on top of the steady increase the firm has experienced over the past five years.
“It really started picking up about a year ago,” Madison says. “The pandemic is certainly part of the problem but it’s not a new issue … it’s just been amplified now. The pandemic has really made a
bad situation worse.
“It’s a huge problem and especially for the Gold Coast because health and aged care are two of the biggest employers for the city.
“This is happening in our public and private health systems, it’s just as bad in both. And in aged care it’s right across the board.
“There is a huge base of people being affected and now it’s such a significant problem that it’s actually becoming a deterrent from new people entering these industries.”
On the Gold Coast, Gold Coast Health says it operates a zero-tolerance policy of violence or aggression towards staff and all reports of occupational violence are investigated.
A spokesman said Gold Coast Health provided mandatory occupational violence prevention training to all staff members, which was repeated annually.
“If the clinical team determines that additional nursing or security support is required to care appropriately for our consumers and safeguard our staff, we will engage additional resources,” the spokesman says.
“While there is no constant security presence on our wards, extra security patrols are routinely undertaken in the hospital’s high-risk areas.”
However, Madison says the aftershocks of these workplace assaults mean that health and aged care settings are losing potential employees, and longstanding staff members.
She says the trauma means many never return to the workplace.
“Our clients are incredibly resilient and they amaze us all the time, but some just cannot ever go back,” she says.
“The irony is that means we’re losing more staff now when we need them more than ever.
“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen how important our frontline workers are. We should be doing everything we can to protect them.
“Instead, they’re suffering both physical and psychological injuries. The psychological injuries are especially significant because they can take an exceptionally long time to heal, if ever.
“The issues are exacerbated when your work is to care for others but
that is also where and how you have been assaulted.”
However, Madison says staff members are not the only victims in these assaults.
In fact, she says the assailants themselves are also suffering.
“If you have one worker alone all night in an aged care home, how is she able to meaningfully attend to all of the residents? Let alone when she then becomes the victim of an assault.
“From patients to staff members, this is not a new issue. We know that mental health and dementia patients are incredibly vulnerable, we need to ensure the safety of their carers for both of their sakes.”
Madison says she has been touring health and aged care workplaces across the city in order to speak to workers and try to prevent further assaults.
Working closely with the Australian Workers Union, she says she has been educating workers on their rights under the law, but also helping them to be more prepared in these critical situations.
“I’ve been going out into the community and speaking to workers face to face. We want to prevent these cases from ever happening.
“What we really need is for employers to be involved, they have a duty and obligation to ensure a safe workplace. We can’t fix this without them.
“One of the big issues is backfilling. Employers know that someone has leave coming up, they’re on notice, but they don’t fill that position. It just puts more stress on a strained system.
“Increasing staff levels is part of the solution, but there also needs to be a big emphasis on training.
“Workers need specific and tailored training so that they are prepared for these physically and psychologically dangerous situations.
“In aged care, you would think that learning how to deal with aggressive patients would be part of the core training, but it’s not. And we’re seeing the results of that.
“Time after time we’re hearing that workers are asking for extra security but their requests are being ignored.”
Due in part to her outreach work in the community, Madison was recently awarded the Lawyers Weekly Australian Rising Star Award, a prestigious national award.
As a born and bred Gold Coaster, she says she considers it a win for the city.
She has already made her mark on the legal landscape of Australia, being heavily involved with Maurice Blackburn colleague and senior associate Claire Gibbs in winning the landmark Brendan Thoms and Daniel Love cases in the High Court. It ruled that Aboriginal people cannot be aliens and cannot be deported.
“I was on that case from the very beginning as a junior instructing solicitor and worked on every aspect. It was incredible to be a part of that team.
“It was a source of pride too to be part of a Gold Coast team, no one expects it of us but this city has grown so much that there are opportunities everywhere.
“That’s why I want to be part of the solution to prevent workplace assaults and make these industries safe for everyone. They are such a huge part of our local economy and the future of the Gold Coast, we need to protect them.”
It’s a call for help that Madison is just hoping someone will hear.
The irony is that means we’re losing more staff now when we need them more than ever