Leading from the top to reduce healthcare worker injuries.

Abstract

Introduction: Epworth HealthCare has significantly reduced its staff injury rates over the past four years. One of the key drivers of success was the engagement of the Group CEO, board of directors and executive team's personal commitment to lead the safety culture. Method: In 2013 Epworth HealthCare (Board of Directors, CEO and Senior Executive Leadership team) launch Epworth's Workplace Safety and Wellbeing initiative. They made a commitment that a thorough investigation should be undertaken to identify what needed to be done in their hospitals to build a culture of safety and wellbeing and to prevent harm to any staff. This strategy included a commitment to working towards achieving a significant reduction of work related injuries by at least 20% each year from 2013-2017 in line with Safe Work Australia's national reduction target. A multidimensional program was developed with the site executive team to raise staff awareness of the commitment from the Board and senior leaders towards addressing root causes of risk. Workshops were held with members of the Board of Directors, Group. CEO and the Executive Leadership Group to discuss their vision for an improved health and safety performance for the hospitals. Results: Since the commencement of the program in 2013 the lost time frequency rate (LTFR) decreased by over 50%. The health and safety scorecard lead indicators have improved significantly with incident investigations and corrective actions are completed within 14 days and staff injuries are reported to the line manager and Executive Director within 24 hours. Conclusion: This project found that sustained improvements in health and safety performance could be achieved through a multidimensional program led by the Board, Group CEO and Senior executives. The ongoing improvement in health and safety performance could be achieved through a multidimensional program led by the Board, Group CEO and Senior executives. The ongoing improvement in the injury performance across the range of hospitals is now setting new performance indicators as a solid foundation for ongoing continuous improvement.