Luke Grants is joined by Naomi Kemp, Chair Australian Institute of Health & Safety, Australia’s peak workplace health and safety body which is calling for immediate government action to stop the spread of COVID-19 among healthcare workers.

 

Ms Kemp says the failure to provide adequate workplace health and safety standards in hospitals and aged care centres has contributed to the state’s devastating second wave.

 

“The current infection rate is unacceptable,” she said.  “But more tragically, it is preventable.”

 

Ms Kemp says that current health and safety practice rebuked the assumption that hospitals were some of Australia’s safest workplaces.

 

“Workers on many building sites currently have better protection than our healthcare workers when it comes to personal protective equipment, protocols around common work and recreation areas and transmission management,” she said.

 

“Despite months of preparation, hospitals and aged care centres don’t have the health and safety practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst their frontline workers.”

 

“The rate of infection of frontline workers is putting additional pressure on the sector to be able to deliver services.”

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