Workplace Health and Safety Responsibilities

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of workplace health and safety, outlining the legal obligations and practical considerations for both employers and employees. It examines legislation like WHS, highlighting key responsibilities such as risk assessment, hazard control, and accident reporting. The assignment also discusses the importance of employee training and awareness in fostering a safe working environment.

Health and Safety in Health and Social
Care
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Review of systems, policies and procedures for communicating information on health and
safety in the case setting .................................................................................................................3
1.2 Assessment of responsibilities for the management of health and safety at each level within
the organization structure.................................................................................................................4
1.3 Analysis of health and safety priorities appropriate for UK HealthCare organization..............4
TASK 2 ................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Importance of risk assessments in specific health and social care work environment..............5
2.2 Impact of health and safety policy aspect on health and social care practices and home's
customers.........................................................................................................................................5
2.3 Dilemmas encountered in relation to implementing systems and policies of health, safety and
security.............................................................................................................................................6
2.4 Effects of non-compliance of health and safety legislation ......................................................7
TASK 3 ................................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Methods of monitored and reviewed health and safety policies and practices in UK
HealthCare.......................................................................................................................................7
3.2 Analysis and priorities to specific aspects of health and safety at health and social care
workplace.........................................................................................................................................8
3.3 Evaluation of own contribution to placing health and safety needs of individual ....................8
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Every kind of business is having the possibility of an accident or harm to employee health.
At the workplace, it is important to maintained the health and safety of the staff to reduce the
impacts of hazards on their health. In the health and social care organizations, the health and safety
is essential to protect both health care professionals and patients. By giving the proper attention the
health and safety within the firm, the care organizations can get the extensive benefits such as
increase productivity of the employee, enhance job satisfaction, increase retention, build good
image of the organization in market place etc (What is Workplace Health and why is it important?.
2015). The following research has related to the health and safety and the objectives which will
cover under the present study are role of health and safety legislations in health and social care
workplace, impacts of health and safety requirements on the customers and monitoring the health
and safety policies at the workplace.
TASK 1
1.1 Review of systems, policies and procedures for communicating information on health and safety
in the case setting
In UK HealthCare organization, the many types of systems, policies and procedures are used
for communicating information of health and safety in care setting. The existing policies and
practices of the hospital are meeting the legislation requirements of UK government (Acton, 2013).
Some regulations and code of practices relevant to health and safety in health and social care setting
are as follows.
Health and safety at work act 1974: The following act defines the basic structure and authorities
for implementing the health, safety and welfare within the every type of industry. With the
implementation of the act in the workplace, UK HealthCare organization has able to defined the
own roles and responsibilities towards the healthcare practitioners, social care workers and other
assistants at the working area by taking care their health and safety (Baker and Baker, 2009). Along
with this, it can be easy to develop and implement the health and safety methods and strategies to
protect the staff members and patients from the hazards.
Health and safety regulation 1981: This act has related to the first aid in which the organization
has required to create a first aid room at the workplace. In the case of UK HealthCare organization,
the hospital has provided the medical facility to the care workers in the case of nay kind of injury or
accidents. For example, a social care worker has injured during handling the machines. In this
situation, the care home has provide the initial treatment to that person and then offer the other
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services if required (Brand, 2012).
Reporting of injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
2013: Under this act, the organizations have required to report the deaths, injuries, diseases to the
responsible person. UK HealthCare organization. In the present time, hospital has not followed in
the effective manner so it has required to report the all the data related to hospital treatments,
hazards occur from accidents in hospitals etc to the respective member of government (Glasby,
2012). In order to communicate the following information there can be use of many methods. These
are as follows;
 Verbal – This type of communication is done through word of mouth where only simple
information and instructions are used. Focus is required to be given by Healthcare
professionals on the areas related to pitch, tone as well as language.
 Written – There can be use of various ways to communicate information in written form.
These include making use of memo, posters, emails.
 Graphic – This is a means of communication by making use of drawings, photographs. It
may help to health and safety information by making use of poster and DVD.
1.2 Assessment of responsibilities for the management of health and safety at each level within the
organization structure
In UK HealthCare organization, it is required to assessing the responsibilities for the
management of health and safety at employees and employers level. The responsibilities of
employer and employees for managing health and safety at the workplace are as follows.
Employer: According to the law, the employer of UK HealthCare organization are responsible for
management of the health and safety in terms of protecting the care employees from the hazards
(Employer's responsibilities. 2015). In this context, the management level of the hospital has
conduct the risk assessment process at every year so that the chance of hazards may be reduced.
Along with this, the employer has also consult with the staff members regarding the health and
safety issues at the workplace. On the other hand, the booklet has provided to the care workers
related to the health and safety which given the guidelines to the staff while delivering the health
care services to the patients (Your employer's duty of care in practice. 2015).
Employees: The social care workers of UK HealthCare organization has responsible for delivering
the right health care services to the patients by ensuring the health and safety. In this respect, the
staff members has first of all care of own health while treating the service users. By taking proper
training and following the health and safety policies, the care workers can create the safe
environment for the patients (Your responsibilities. 2015). Along with this, by proper recording and
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reporting the injuries or illness of the service users, the staff members have able to deliver the
effective healthcare services to the community.
1.3 Analysis of health and safety priorities appropriate for UK HealthCare organization
The major priority of UK HealthCare organization is providing training to care workers
which helps in delivering the good healthcare service to the patients. In this context, the
management of the hospital has arranged the training sessions for the staff members as per the need
of individual (Buchanan and Carnwell, 2004). The second priority is cleanliness which help in
decrease the chances of infections types of disease in the patients as well as staff members. In this
regards, the management has to adopt the good practices of housekeeping which help in neat and
clean the working area. Disposing of the wastage of the various materials such as bandages, bloody
cloths, masks and injections, etc is the third priority of UK HealthCare organization. The effective
method of managing and disposing the wastage help in create the healthy and good environment for
the patients (Garcarz and Wilcock, 2003). Managing the risk at the workplace area is an another
priority of the hospital in which the risk assessment process has carried by the management to
minimize the hazards during the work. In this respect, the UK HealthCare organization has adopted
and installed the different health and safety methods to keep the place safe and secure from the
hazards. Therefore, there are different priorities of UK HealthCare organization towards the health
and safety of the employees and patients (Henderson, Chalesworth and Martin, 2010).
TASK 2
2.1 Importance of risk assessments in specific health and social care work environment
Risk assessment can be defined as carefully examining the areas in ones work that can cause
harm to people. This is likely to aid in finding out what precautions can be taken so as to prevent
the same. In the case of UK HealthCare organization, the risk assessment process has required to
protect the staff and patients from the hazards. It is further important so as to ensure that risks have
been quantified as well as qualified in a careful manner. This is likely to aid towards minimizing it
in the best possible manner. With the help of this process, the care home can communicate the
important information within the workplace and it can be understand by examples (Moonie, 2000).
For instance, it has found from the risk assessment process that slips and trips are the major areas by
which service users can injured if they trip over the objectives or slips on spillages. Therefore, in
this situation, a care plan can be developed for the individual where the UK HealthCare always
maintained the good standards of housekeeping, repair the damaged floors and provide the suitable
footwear to the patient which are having good grip (Morath and Turnbull, 2004). By following these
things, the chances of harm from the hazards can be reduced. On the other hand, another
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information found from the risk assessment process that staff of UK HealthCare have faced the
burning injuries while cleaning the different equipment's, cloths of the patients and other work. This
following information can be used by the organization to develop the policies and procedures
regrading the safety of the employees. For example, the display of hot water signs, provide the
proper clothing while working with hot water or hot surface etc (Nolan, 2005). Hence, risk
assessment has helped in communicating the important information to the patients and the
employees of UK HealthCare organization.
2.2 Impact of health and safety policy aspect on health and social care practices and home's
customers’
Health and safety policy statement specifies that these are managerial responsibilities which are
required to be done for preventing personal injury as well as maintaining healthy place of work. It is
further in the hands of employees to act in a responsible manner so as to prevent injury. The impact
of the same can be the policy document should be explained to all. These should be in terms of
explaining the duties to employers followed by providing them with training courses for the same.
In the same way, in order to provide the better services to the patients, the care home has required to
ensure the health and safety of the users (Syrett, 2007). To achieve this objective, the healthcare
service provider has to bring the changes in the health and social care practices such as maintained
the hygiene at the workplace, install the fire alarms and smoke detectors within the hospitals etc.
Along with this, the risk assessment process may be conducted to ensure the safety at the workplace
and reduce the chances of harms from the hazards (Sprenger, 2003).
On the other hand, health and safety aspect has made the positive impact on external and
internal home's customers of UK HealthCare. For example, to create the awareness in the patients
and their family members, the hospital has put some posters and signs boards on the different places
of the premises. The result of this is the internal and external service users will know about the
health and safety facilities of the hospital (Niles, 2010). In addition to this, they will become aware
about the consequences of hazards and always alert towards the safety. These all things will create
the positive image in the customer mind about UK HealthCare.
2.3 Dilemmas encountered in relation to implementing systems and policies of health, safety and
security
While implementing systems and policies for health, safety and security at the workplace of
UK HealthCare, the different kinds of dilemmas has faced by domiciliary care workers. Social,
moral and ethical dilemmas which are commonly deal in relation of implementing the systems and
policies for health and security (Fisher, 2005). For example, a person who is facing Mania health
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problem and not having the sense of taking any kind of decision. In this situation, he wants to go
outside from the home to buy the newspapers but he has no road awareness. During this case, the
domiciliary care worker has no right to stop the patient for going outside to buy the newspaper. If he
stop him to access the human right then it becomes illegal. But, from the health and safety
legislation perspective, the care worker has stop the patient to go outside by take the decision on the
behalf of service users under the act of Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Brand, 2012).
On the other hand, during providing the healthcare services, the domiciliary care worker has
ensure health and safety of the patients. The outcome of this is in terms of moral dilemmas because
of disagreement of UK HealthCare policies with the ethical values of the social workers. It has
affected the quality of the services of the hospital. For example, a patient is unwilling to take
medicine because of his current health conditions. He has the right to refuse to take treatment at any
time (Acton, 2013). But it is a responsibility of the care worker to ensure that whether the patient
has taken medicine on time or not. For domiciliary care worker, it is a moral dilemma because at
one side, unwillingness of patient to take medicine and on the other hand, responsibilities of the
care worker to give the treatment to the service users for good health. To resolve this issue, the
domiciliary care worker has to discuss the situation of the patient with the other health care
professionals and change the prescription of the medicine. Therefore, the care worker has faced the
different kinds of dilemmas while implementing the health, safety and security policies at the
working area (Baker and Baker, 2009).
2.4 Effects of non-compliance of health and safety legislation
Non-compliance means the health care service providers are not following the rules,
regulations, guidelines and other norms of related to the different health and safety act which has
been already set by government (Tributor, 2014). The acts for the dementia elderly patients are
Mental Capacity Act 2005, Mental Health Act 2007 etc. If the day care centre has not followed
these health and safety acts while providing the services to the patients then it will made the
negative effect of non-compliance. For example, if the day care centre has not provided the safety to
the mental ill patients then the chances of the injury or hazards may happen with the service users
(Greener, 2009). Due to unsafe environment and lack of safety measures, the patients will suffer the
negative impacts of non-compliance. Another example, if the day centre has given the wrong
treatments to the dementia patients then it will affect the health of them such as reaction of the
medicines, death, losing memory power, raise new diseases etc. On the other hand, if the day centre
has followed unethical things while delivering the health services to the dementia patients then it
will affected the quality of the healthcare services (Syrett, 2007). It will directly affect the health of
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then service users in terms of not getting the proper care and treatments which may increase their
illness.
TASK 3
3.1 Methods of monitored and reviewed health and safety policies and practices in UK HealthCare
In the UK HealthCare organization, there are different methods available for monitoring and
review of health and safety policies and practices which are as follows.
Audit of risks: It helps the hospital to set the high standards of health and safety, improving the
healthcare services and meet the all legal requirements. For example, by comparing the health and
safety management system with the UK government legal requirements as well as health and safety
best practices, it can be easily identified whether the UK HealthCare has able to provide the
healthcare services by considering health and safety of the patients or not (Health and Safety Audits.
2015). By using the information of the audit, the services can be improved as well as new practices
can be formulated.
Measure the effectiveness: By measuring the effectiveness of health and safety policies, UK
HealthCare organization can monitor and review the practices of health and safety. In this context,
the number of hazards incurred within hospital and their impacts on the patients as well as care
workers may define the effectiveness of health and safety policies. In addition to this, the
improvement in the existing policies can be made (Morath and Turnbull, 2004).
Risk assessment: This is also used in monitoring and review the health and safety policies. With
the help of this, the hazards can be easily determined. By using the following method, the UK
HealthCare organization can identified who might be harmed from the hazards and the existing
health and safety policies are effective or not for protect the patients and employees from the harm.
Beside this, for the identified new areas of risks, the new policies and procedures can be developed
for safety purpose (Henderson, Chalesworth and Martin, 2010).
3.2 Analysis and priorities to specific aspects of health and safety at health and social care
workplace
As a care worker of UK HealthCare organization, during delivering the services of
healthcare to the patients, it is important for me to priorities different aspects of health and safety.
For example, the first priority is reduction in number of accidents and infections at the workplace.
The reason of giving it first priority is the good housekeeping has created the good and healthy
environment in the hospital which decrease the chances of the disease (Greener, 2009). In this
respect, the management of UK HealthCare organization has required to given training to the staff
members about how to keep clean the place and make it more pleasant. Along with this, by adopting
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the waste management methods, the different infection related cloths and other objects can be safely
dispose (Garcarz and Wilcock, 2003).
The second priority is taking the feedback from the service users of UK HealthCare
organization. The reason of giving this second priority is the customer satisfaction level has defined
the effectiveness of the services of the hospital. In this respect, the by taking the feedback and
suggestions from the patients and other service users, the issues and other problems areas can be
easily determined (Brand, 2012). With the help of the gather information, the improvement in the
existing health care services and policies can be made. Therefore, by following such type of
process, the analysis of the work activities and their priorities can be set in the context of setting of
health care practices.
3.3 Evaluation of own contribution to placing health and safety needs of individual
As a care worker of residential care home, my first priority is provide the health and safety
needs to the individual. In this context, to deliver health and safety during the treatment to the
patients, I have to evaluate my own contribution. In the centre of practice, firstly I have determined
some policies of residential care home such as Anti-smoking, housekeeping policies etc. After this, I
have develop a safety environment at the workplace according to the needs of the patients. Along
with this, I have managed various written documents for the intention of preventing from the
hazards and injuries. This document has also contained the control actions for prevent from the
accidents and harms. On the other hand, I have conduct risk assessment process in which I have
analysed the risks related to the health and safety and their impact on the health of the patients as
well as social care workers. After this, I have record the possible hazards, their impacts and the
people who may be harm. In addition to this, I have also inspect the workplace and taking the
feedbacks from the services users related to the health and safety policies of the firm. With the help
of the gather information, I have placed my views in front of the management to improve the health
and safety policies and practices. Therefore, by such kind of work, I will evaluate my contribution
to placing health and safety needs of individual in residential care home.
CONCLUSION
From the above research, it has concluded that for maintaining the health and safety, UK
HealthCare organization has followed the various kinds of policies and practices which has full
filled the legislation requirements. The setting of priorities of the health and safety work has based
on the need assessment. The employees and employers, both have the different responsibilities to
maintained health and safety at the workplace. With the help of the risk assessment process, the new
services has developed and the improvement in the existing health care services have done. The
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different kinds of methods have adopted by UK HealthCare organization to monitor and review of
the health and safety policies and developing the new health care practices.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Acton, A. Q., 2013. Issues in Social, Ethnic, and Cultural Research. ScholarlyEditions.
Baker, R. W. and Baker, J. J., 2009. Health Care Finance. Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Brand, D., 2012. Social and health care integration: (1) The individual dimension. Journal of
Integrated Care. 20(6). pp. 371–378.
Buchanan, J. and Carnwell, R., 2004. Effective Practice in Health and Social Care. McGraw-Hill
International.
Fisher, A., 2005. Health and Social Care. Oxford: Henemann.
Garcarz, W. and Wilcock, E., 2003. Statutory and Mandatory Training in Health and Social Care: A
Toolkit for Good Practice. Oxon, ox: Radcliffe Publishing.
Glasby, J., 2012. Understanding Health and Social Care. The Policy Press.
Greener, I., 2009. Healthcare in the UK: Understanding Continuity and Change. The Policy Press.
Henderson, E, Chalesworth, J. and Martin, V., 2010. Managing in Health and Social
Care. Routledge.
Moonie, N., 2000. Advanced Health and Social Care. Oxford: Heinemann.
Morath, J. M. and Turnbull, J. E., 2004. To Do No Harm Ensuring Patient Safety in health Care
Organizations. Jossey Bass Wiley.
Niles, J. N., 2010. Basics of the U.S. Health Care System. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Nolan, Y., 2005. Health and Social Care (adults). Heinemann.
Shanks, H. N. and Buchbinder, B. S., 2011. Introduction to Health Care Management. Jones &
Bartlett Publishers.
Sprenger, R., 2003. Health and Safety for Management. London: Highfield.
Syrett, K., 2007. Law, Legitimacy and the Rationing of Health Care: A Contextual and Comparative
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Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Online
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<http://www.hse.gov.uk/workers/employers.htm>. [Accessed on: 29th December, 2015].
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[Accessed on: 29th December, 2015].
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[Accessed on: 29th December, 2015].
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