The Social Assistance and Support Work sector plays a critical role in the well-being of vulnerable individuals across Australia. From disability support to aged care, these services are essential. However, the industry's demands place support workers at higher risk of injury, stress, and burnout due to long hours, physically demanding work, and intense emotional interactions with clients. This environment can make sustained, effective support challenging for the workers themselves.

Injury data: Understanding the impact

In the Social Assistance sector, workplace injuries are predominantly physical and often exacerbated by the nature of support work. More importantly, workers compensation claims in this cohort have longer duration and are more costly than the scheme average.

  • Common injury types: Upper limb injuries are most frequent (34%), followed by back and neck (23%), and lower limb injuries (22%), often due to repetitive lifting tasks required for assisting clients.
  • Common injury mechanisms: Workers face significant risks from being struck by moving objects (31.8%), often during confrontational scenarios, along with body stressing (26.1%) and falls, slips, and trips (20%) in unpredictable environments. Mental stress, driven by the emotional nature of the work, also plays a role, accounting for over 10% of injury claims and more than twice the rate of psychological injury of other industries

Source:  ReturnToWorkSA – Industry Risk Analysis Report (2021-2023 FY)

Common hazards and risks: The everyday realities

Support workers frequently face risks that impact their health and safety, including:

  • High workload and low job control: Many support workers report overwhelming workloads and limited autonomy, factors that contribute to increased burnout and lower job engagement.
  • Emotional demands and insufficient training: Around 40% of workers describe their roles as emotionally exhausting, which can contribute to higher turnover rates and difficulty in sustaining a career in the field. While 95% of workers receive training, only 49% felt this training adequately prepared them for their role
  • Casualisation: A large proportion of workers in this sector are employed on a casual basis, lacking leave entitlements and job security, adding to the stress and burnout in this field.
  • Occupational violence and aggression: 84% of workers surveyed in the disability sector had experience work-related violence in the past 12 months. Almost half these workers felt that they did not experience adequate post-incident support.
  • Working in Isolation and low levels of support: Many support workers perform their duties in isolated environments, which can make the provision of support, feedback and recognition difficult. Managers and team leaders in these environments also report that their ability to provide staff support is hampered by high workloads.

Source: ReturnToWorkSA Industry Profile – Social Assistance, 2023

Health data and risk factors: The hidden health crisis

The physical demands are only one aspect of the challenges in this field. Social assistance workers often face:

  • Mental and Emotional Well-being Strain - Up to 43% of disability support workers report high levels of job-related stress, burnout, and low job satisfaction, largely due to heavy workloads and limited control over work conditions.
  • Economic and Social Strain - Workers report low wages and the need for multiple jobs to make ends meet, which has negative implications for both mental health and job satisfaction.

Source: ReturnToWorkSA Industry Profile - Social Assistance, 2023

Additional resources: Tools to support workers’ well-being

Several resources aim to support workers and improve conditions in the Social Assistance industry.