PRIORITISING YOUR

When nurses and midwives are safe in their workplaces, those in their care are safe and experience better health outcomes. This fact has been repeatedly demonstrated in research conducted here in Australia and across the world. However, many QNMU members tell us their safety is not being prioritised by their employer and this is directly impacting their ability to provide high quality nursing or midwifery to patients and families.

One of the issues noted is the narrow view some employers take to what encompasses work health and safety for nurses and midwives. These narrow views often prioritise physical safety over psychological safety or places limitations on where safety is prioritised, such as areas with high levels of electrical technology as opposed to a general ward or community outreach service. The shortsightedness of employers is not only disappointing from the humanistic perspective, but it is unlawful in accordance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)

The QNMU has been a longtime campaigner for improving work health and safety laws and seeking better compliance from employers to those laws. We have taken a holistic approach to our campaigning based on the QNMU’s Positive Practice Environment (PPE) Standards which states that nurses and midwives must have safe workloads and work in an environment that ensures their physical, psychological, and cultural safety, at all times. We have taken the opportunity to be explicit about what