The workforce impact of musculoskeletal injuries in healthcare

A substantial injury burden

Healthcare and social assistance employs a large and essential workforce, but it also carries a substantial workplace-injury burden.

Safe Work Australia's 2025 national statistics show that healthcare and social assistance accounted for 29,100 serious workers' compensation claims in 2023–24, representing 19.9% of all serious claims.

The industry recorded a serious-claim frequency rate of 9.4 claims per million hours worked, compared with an all-industry average of 6.8.

Why this matters operationally

A serious claim is defined by Safe Work Australia as an accepted workers' compensation claim involving at least one working week of time lost.

The effect therefore extends beyond the injured worker.

For a healthcare organisation, an injury may also contribute to:

• temporary loss of experienced staff
• restricted duties
• roster disruption
• overtime and replacement staffing
• increased pressure on colleagues
• reduced continuity within clinical teams
• delays in routine care activities

These effects are especially relevant in a sector already managing workforce shortages, increasing demand and greater patient complexity.

Nursing and care workers face higher muscular stress exposure

Safe Work Australia's workforce profile shows that nursing, care and support workers experience serious musculoskeletal claims at a substantially higher rate than the national workforce.

Many of their day-to-day activities involve:

• supporting or moving people
• pushing and pulling equipment
• working in hazardous body positions
• responding to unpredictable movement
• completing physically demanding tasks repeatedly

This highlights the importance of looking at work design rather than treating injuries solely as isolated incidents.

Prevention requires a system response

Workforce safety cannot depend only on individual technique.

A broader prevention strategy should consider:

• task design
• equipment selection
• point-of-care access
• staffing requirements
• patient-specific handling plans
• maintenance and readiness
• training
• review of recurring handling tasks

Patient-handling equipment is only one part of that system, but it can play an important role in reducing reliance on repeated manual force where appropriate.

Workforce safety is an operational priority

Protecting workers from musculoskeletal risk is not only a WHS objective.

It also supports:

• workforce availability
• service continuity
• staff retention
• operational resilience
• consistent patient care

For healthcare organisations, investment in safer patient-handling systems should therefore be considered alongside broader workforce and operational planning.