The health and community sector encompasses public and private hospitals, nursing homes and other aged care facilities, home care services. Workers in the health and community sector can be exposed to a wide range of hazards which can have serious effects on their health and/or safety. This section provides more information for workers in this sector (scroll down).
There has been plenty of research which shows that unionised and organised workplaces have a better OHS record than un-unionised sites as these sites are far more likely to have well-trained and resourced elected OHS Reps, joint OHS Committees and support from the union. This applies not only to traditional 'blue collar' workplaces, but workplaces in industries like education too.
WorkSafe Victoria has webpages for Health and Aged Care Sector and Community Services where you can find information, advice, guidance material, such as material on Manual Handling, patient handling and the Home Care Industry OHS guide, and much more. The ASCC has produced a profile for health and community services nationally [pdf] detailing the number of workers, claims and fatalities.