‘Headbutted, punched, choked’: Terrified disability workers’ horror stories revealed

Terrified disability workers have revealed harrowing stories of violence at work, detailing what life is really like as a carer inside Australia’s homes.

Caitlin Sakovits has been headbutted, punched, choked, pushed over, pinned down, and had her hair pulled out.

She is the human face of a crisis crippling our disability workers sector, with some staff saying they fear for their own safety on almost a daily basis.

They say chronic understaffing or insufficient support from management is to blame for making workers vulnerable to physical attacks from their disabled clients.

In a survey of disability staff by the United Workers Union released on Sunday, it found 38 per cent have experienced violence at work, 84 per cent have experienced the impacts of understaffing and more than a third report regular unpaid work.

The survey also found that three quarters of workers are thinking about leaving the sector some or all the time, and one-in-five workers plan to leave their jobs, many within a year.

Caitlin Sakovits is a uni graduate and disability worker who has been attacked at work by clients. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Ms Sakovits, 26, a psychology graduate, said she put herself at risk every shift and considers it a good day at work if she doesn’t need to call emergency services.

She mainly looks after one female client in her 20s.

“I’ve had my hair ripped out, I’ve been choked around the throat several times, pushed over, punched, headbutted, arms grabbed and scratched and pushed up against a bench and crushed so I couldn’t move,” Ms Sakovits said.

“The client is very violent. She is a lovely person when she’s calm, but when she is not calm it can be very, very extreme.

“My main aim at work is to make sure she doesn’t kill anyone or herself.”

While Ms Sakovits suffers bruising on a weekly basis, she has not incurred really serious injuries like some of her colleagues.

The union said there have been incidents where staff have been knifed or permanently injured.

This disability worker suffered a fractured eye socket after he was allegedly punched by a client on January 28. He underwent surgery on February 7.

The 31-year-old is an unnamed man from Adelaide.

One support worker shared photos from his hospital bed earlier this month following surgery for a broken eye socket after being punched in the face by a client.

United Workers Union disability co-ordinator Mel Coad said the crisis in the disability workforce has been ignored by the Royal Commission, which this week wrapped up its final hearings of its three-year-long inquiry into the sector.

“The incidents disability support workers face are horrifying, and it’s a direct consequence of understaffing, chronically low pay and a system that relies on workers taking on unpaid hours,” Ms Coad said.

“It’s telling that when workers file occupational health and safety reports nearly half of workers say their complaints aren’t acted on in a timely fashion, and others speak of being punished or bullied if they make incident reports.”

Ms Sakovits said she has worked with the same client for two years, but through two different providers.

She said working conditions have improved with the second provider, but believes her pay, which starts at $30 an hour, is too low.

“My protective brothers say I should go and get a job at Coles,” Ms Sakovits said.

“But I’m attached to my client and I worry about her.”

A spokesman for the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission said NDIS providers

are required to comply with workplace laws, as well as the NDIS Code of Conduct, including to provide NDIS supports and services in a safe and competent manner with care and skill.

The spokesman said it takes action against those who do not.

To make a complaint go to ndiscommission.gov.au.

Originally published as ‘Headbutted, punched, choked’: Terrified disability workers’ horror stories revealed