Hawkesbury District Health Service (HDHS) has won a National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA) National Safety Award of Excellence for overhauling its approach to staff safety at the hospital.
The hospital, which is a division of St John of God Health Care, won the Best Continuous Improvement of a WHS Management System category for its safety program which has led to the introduction of a range of initiatives to reduce safety issues and improve the wellbeing of staff.
HDHS acting chief executive officer Belinda Mott said the hospital was honoured to receive recognition for its efforts to take a proactive approach to improving safety over the past three years.
"Everyone at our hospital has really taken on the challenge of improving our health and safety," Ms Mott said.
"With their input we have upgraded our equipment and ensured all of our caregivers take part in manual handling and violence and aggression training - we even had caregivers involved in training at midnight to ensure no one missed out."
These changes and other preventive measures have significantly reduced the hospital's injury rates from having two to three staff injuries each month to regularly having no injuries over the last two years.
"Everyone at Hawkesbury District Health Service is really proud of our achievements. Good occupational health and safety is only possible with input from everyone and an understanding that we are all responsible for each other," Ms Mott said.
"We don't want anyone going home with an injury and this award demonstrates to our community that we have a culture of safety and caring for our caregivers and patients alike at Hawkesbury District Health Service."
