New Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Code of Practice urges healthcare to minimise biological hazards like airborne viruses. Worker safety must take priority. Guidance may inform litigation.
The Safe Work Australia WHS Code of Practice for healthcare and social assistance has just been published – download it by clicking here.
It states:
“You must ensure that workers and others in the workplace are not exposed to WHS risks from biological hazards. You must eliminate risks as much as you reasonably can. If elimination is not possible, you must minimise risks as much as you reasonably can.”
[“Others” could include patients and visitors.]
“Patient or client care, support or preferences do not take priority over worker safety. WHS legal requirements exist to protect workers and others from WHS risks, & these requirements cannot be ignored because of an actual or perceived conflict with patient or client care.”
Note that whilst this is not actual regulation, codes of practice can be used as evidence in prosecutions. They are not legally binding, just guidance. But if you do not follow the guidance you are expected to do something equivalent or better.
David Allen concludes that: It will be hard to defend lack of ventilation, masking or air filtration in a hospital or aged care facility where there are obvious risks from airborne viruses. I expect there to be ligitation stemming from this…
Information taken from a thread on X by @drdavidallen, an occupational health physician – click here to read the thread.
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