Health and Safety in the Workplace

This assignment focuses on health and safety in various workplace settings. It examines communication strategies, consultation procedures, and policies related to health and safety. Students analyze resources from organizations like RMIT University, NHBC, and Patient.info to understand the importance of effective health and safety communication for ensuring a safe work environment.

Health and Safety

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................2
AC 1.1 Review systems, policies and procedures used in communicating health and safety at
workplace....................................................................................................................................2
AC 2.4 health and safety legislation and their effects in health and safety workplace...............3
AC 3.1 & 3,2 Effectiveness in promoting positive and healthy practice ...................................4
AC 1.2 Organisational chart to assess the responsibilities in a specific health and social care
workplace....................................................................................................................................5
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................6
AC 1.3 & 2.2 Health and safety priorities and impact of one aspect of health and safety policy6
Impact of one aspect of health and safety policy........................................................................6
AC 2.1 Risk assessment plan for identifying service-user’s needs and organisational decision-
making.........................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................9
AC 2.3 & AC 3.3 Implementing systems and policies for health and safety issues...................9
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
A workplace that has a miserable health and safety policy tends to experience adverse
consequences on the individual, organization and at the communal level. In a health and social care
workplace, effects of health problems and injuries have been experienced and they range from small
suitability to vast consequences. These effects include pain and suffering due to illness, injury and
death. Psychological injury includes financial crisis, absenteeism, low mental state, reduced
productivity, poor productiveness, community costs and poor corporate image. Many organizations
experience the difficulty of ensuring that their workers are leading a healthy and stress-free
lifestyle. If workers fall ill then it is the duty of organizations to help them in providing adequate
care and quality healthcare services so that they are capable of regaining and restoring their health
(Jeffreys, 2015).
This report will focus on different legislative policies and framework for communication
which are used in maintaining health and social care services at workplace. The report will also
include different responsibilities for a specific health and social care workplace which is necessary
for effective management of health and safety in relation to organisational structure. Further, the
study will also explore impacts of health and safety policies in health and social practice.
TASK 1
AC 1.1 Review systems, policies and procedures used in communicating health and safety at
workplace
Various laws and policies are applied by healthcare agencies and hospitals in the UK so that
health and safety of service users can be maintained. Several laws directed by the government of
UK are discussed below: The health and Safety Executive (HSE): Health and safety executive panel is the
individual UK government body who is responsible for enforcing legislative policies of
health and safety at workplace. HSE plays a vital role in providing advice on health and
safety issues. Apart from HSE, Local authorities in the healthcare sector are also responsible
for implementing legislative policies (Adler and Mautes, 2014). Health and Safety at Workplace Act 1974: It is one of the most important acts of UK health
and safety legislations. According to this act, it is a duty of all the healthcare employers to
ensure safety of each and every employee working in the healthcare organization.
Employers are also advised to maintain a written record of safety policies and legislations
for the employee’s safety (Health and safety communication and consultation procedure,

2016). Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999: This regulation places a
duty on employers to assess and evaluate risk associated to their employees due to various
work activities. According to this rule, employees are directed to work with all the safety
measures so that they do not encounter any type of accidents while working (Ziebland and
Wyke, 2012). Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995: These
regulation require to all the workers, employers and other members present in the premises
to report any death, injury or accident to the incident contact centre immediately due to work
related activities.
 Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992: This workplace regulation
places a duty on all the employers to ensure that working environment is safe and suitable
for all the works which are being performed. There should not be any risk to employees,
patients or other staff members who are working in the hospital or healthcare centres.
AC 2.4 health and safety legislation and their effects in health and safety workplace
Non-compliance in health and safety legislation means organization is not following
appropriate guidelines, rules, regulations which have developed by the Work Safety & Health Act. It
has negative impact on the organization as well as personnel. For example, if a health and social
care organization does not follow Fire Protection Act, 1971 then sudden fire in any department can
increase the risk of safety and security for patients and employees at the workplace (Nagappa,
Bindu and Sinha, 2015). In this situation, fire can increase uncertainty of the physical and mental
harm for patients and personnel. According to the employment act, manager of health and social
care organization needs to maintain appropriate working environment for employees. If any HSC
Company does not provide appropriate working condition to the employees then it may affect the
personal performance of employees. Inappropriate working condition can decline the job
satisfaction level of employees. Along with this, inadequate working facilities can create health
related complications which can affect physical and mental health of personnel. Non-compliances
in legislation increases chances of death and mortalities of patients. So, every organization needs to
develop organizational policy with consideration of appropriate acts and regulations (Price, Doucet
and Hall, 2014).
According to the health and safety standards, every health and social care organization needs
to consider different rules and regulations at the time of introducing any new drug and treatment.
For example, they cannot launch any new drug in the market before testing and appropriate
experiment because it can harm for patients. Including this, government of UK has introduced some

specific fines or penalties for some specific and fixed issues or noncompliance. So, in this case,
health and social care organization needs to pay fine which can increase the financial burden on it
and also can decline its performance (Van Boekel and Garretsen, 2013).
AC 3.1 & 3.2 Effectiveness in promoting positive and healthy practice
There are number of health and safety policies which are developed by HSC organization for
providing safety and security at workplace. Ensuring safe and healthy environment as well as safety
program for protecting staff from accidents are the major policies of health and safety (Jeffreys,
2015). Major benefits of these policies are as follows:
Effectiveness of health and safety policies: Improvement in patient’s health: Appropriate consideration of health and safety policy
improves the quality of services which helps in recovering physical and mental health of
patients. Along with this, it increases satisfaction level and experiences of service users
(Communication of health and safety in the workplace, 2016). Reduction in accidents: Due to health and safety policies, manager of the organization hires
only those personnel who have appropriate skills and knowledge for handling equipment as
well as patients. It helps in reducing the probability of accidents at the time of medical
treatment. In addition, safe working environment policy reduces wastage and maintains
cleanliness at the workplace. This is also beneficial for reducing infections (Vaivre-Douret,
2014). Increment in level of motivation of employees: Different policies of health and safety are
beneficial for maintaining appropriate working environment at the workplace. It increases
the satisfaction of employees which will help in increasing the level of motivation (Health
and safety policy and procedures, 2012).
Monitoring and reviewing of health and safety policies:
Appropriate monitoring and regular review of health and safety policies are required for
maintaining quality in health care practices. Evaluating number of accidents as well as incidents,
observations and supervisions are known as major methods of monitoring and reviewing (Wolfe,
Thompson and McKee, 2013). Using data base management of patients, organization can get
appropriate information about accidents and incident logs. Along with this, observation of the
medical treatment and process also help in determining the future risks as well as needs and
requirements of patients. Along with this, it helps in identifying that whether HSC organization is
following all the standards of health and safety or not. Effective supervision assists in determining
appropriate implementation of health and safety policy at the time of providing medical treatment to
the patients. Inspection, reflective and target settings are included in review process. Monitoring

and review of health and safety policy help in identifying all the necessary changes which are
required to do in existing medical policy and treatment (Gunn, Menzies and Block, 2014).
AC 1.2 Organisational chart to assess the responsibilities in a specific health and social care
workplace
Figure 1: Organization chart for health and social care
Every organization needs to follow a specific structure for maintaining health and safety at
workplace. Regarding this, each and every employee has his or her own responsibilities. Health care
manager of HSC organization is accountable for safety and security of both the employees as well
as patients. Along with this, manager has a responsibility of developing appropriate organization
policies with the consideration of health and safety rules as well as regulations (Dower, Moore and
Langelier, 2013). For completing this responsibility in an effective manner, manager needs to focus
on the needs and requirements of patients as well as employees. Doctors, general practitioners and
health professionals have responsibility of developing plan for providing appropriate medical
treatment to the patients. They should focus on the quality of health practices. Care planning helps
in increasing the level of satisfaction of patients because it helps in improving their physical and
mental health. Maintaining effective communication with patients and doctors is also one of the
major responsibilities of health and social care workers. Including this, manager of HSC
organization is accountable for making arrangement of training session for the workers of health
and social care (Carman and et.al., 2013). He/she is responsible for monitoring and reviewing of all
the practices which are followed by health and social care workers at the time of providing
treatment to the patients.

TASK 2
AC 1.3 & 2.2 Health and safety priorities and impact of one aspect of health and safety policy
Health and safety priorities
According to the case study, Mr. Watson is suffering from psychiatric illness with poor
financial condition. This illness results to change the behaviour and language of Mr. Watson due to
which people do not like to visit his home. Messy and poor state of the house and garden show the
poor financial condition of him. In this regard, priorities of health and safety for Mr. Watson are
explained below:
 Psychiatric Illness: This factor is at top priority for health and safety of Watson. It is
essential to provide right and better treatment to the patient for improving his present
condition. For effective and right treatment, Kiran needs to identify the reasons behind the
situation of Mr. Watson. She needs to make good relation with him so that he can share all
the information regarding his past and present life. With the help of this information, Kiran
can able to determine about the types of medicines and treatment which should be provided
to Watson. On the other hand, she can hospitalised Watson due to his mental illness. It can
also help in monitoring the changes and improvements in the behaviour as well as mental
condition of Watson. In contrast to it, Kiran can provide all the facilities at the home of
Watson with a nurse for time to time medication and better treatment. She needs to divert the
mind of Watson towards the area of his interest so that he cannot think about his past which
results to cause these issues (London, Ladewig and Bindler, 2015).
 Condition of House: Overgrown garden with rubbish and dump of old furniture represents
the poor state of Mr Watson’s house. It is important to provide clean, safe and hygienic
environment to the patient for his better recovery. So, the second priority is to change the
condition of house. It will help in providing good environment to the Watson. Clean and safe
atmosphere will keep Watson from the various infections and diseases (Lundgren and
McMakin, 2013).
Impact of one aspect of health and safety policy
Health and safety policy of the UK government is for the betterment of various patients.
Impact of one aspect of this policy results to improve the present condition of Watson with respect
to the illness and financial issue. With the help of this policy, care assistant and health care firm
provide effective treatment and appropriate care to the Watson. Along with this, as per the policy,
firm provides quality services to the patient so that he can adjust himself and can access the services

easily and simply (Baron and et.al., 2014). These services include clean and safe environment with
healthy and nutritious food. Clean environment leads to keep away Watson from other infections
and diseases whereas, healthy food helps him in getting recover in a better way. For proper
implementation of the health and safety policy, health care organisation needs to conduct regular
training for their staff members so that they can use this policy effectively (Dixon, Goldberg and
Potts, 2015). As Watson is suffering from mental illness, so staff workers need to handle him
properly. Support and care from the doctors, nurses, family, friends etc. result to motivate Watson in
order to fight with his illness for fast recovery. Love and affection of family members help in
bringing improvement in the behaviour and language of Watson. On the other hand, social care firm
makes Watson to participate in different activities so that he can divert his mind (Vaivre-Douret,
2014).
AC 2.1 Risk assessment plan for identifying service-user’s needs and organisational decision-
making
Risk assessment plan for identifying service-user’s needs and organisational decision-
making is as follows.
Organisation Name Health and Social Care organisation
What are
the
hazards?
Who
might be
harmed
and how?
What are
you
already
doing?
Evaluatio
n
Action by
Whom
Action by when Complete where+
How
Dining
Area
Food
service
staff
members
and
service
users due
to lack of
cleanlines
s and
hygiene.
Risks
from the
manual
handling
along
with the
slips and
trips.
Moderate
Risk= 5
Food
Service
Manager
5th March 2016 Proper cleanliness, 2nd
March 2016
Machiner
y
Staff
members
Staff
workers
High
Risk=10
Manager 5th March 2016 Staff workers are
reminded to switch

and
patients
due to risk
of serious
injury
form the
dangerous
parts of
machinery
are being
trained for
dealing
with such
machines.
Proper
instructio
ns are
given at
risky
areas.
Dangerou
s parts of
the
machines
are
guarded
properly
(Van
Boekel
and
Garretsen,
2013).
Regular
checking
of the
machines
before
using
them
off power supply
while cleaning or
maintaining the
machines.
1st March 2016
Manual
Handling
Kitchen
staff,
nurses,
other staff
Training
is
provided
to all the
High
Risk= 10
Health
care
managers
5th March 2016 7th March 2016 with
proper cooperation
and coordination of
the staff members.

workers
etc. can
be injured
from
improper
handling
of any
type of
instrumen
t,
equipment
, knives,
scissors
and many
more
staff
members
for
handling
equipment
properly
with care.
Along
with it,
booklets
are given
to them
for
understan
ding and
handling
method
properly.
Knives Kitchen
staff,
doctors,
nurses
and
patients
(Nagappa
and et.al.,
2015)
To place
knives at
right
place so
that no
patient
can
misuse
them.
Further,
there must
have
availabilit
y of First
Aid box.
Low Risk
=1
Food and
health
care
managers
1st March 2016 To guide staff for not
using knives for
unpacking food
products. 1st March
2016
In the above risk assessment plan, High risk=10, moderate risk=5 and low risk = 1 are taken

into consideration for the evaluation of various hazardous and risks.
TASK 3
AC 2.3 & AC 3.3 Implementing systems and policies for health and safety issues
According to the given case study, Mr. Halley is suffering from Apraxia. It is basically a
motor disorder which is caused due to brain damage. Halley faces difficulty with motor planning to
perform his tasks. Along with this, he cannot able to move his lips or tongue to the right place
because of disrupted message from the brain to the mouth (Fernando Chang-Muy, 2015). In the
given case study, Halley wants to purchase his favourite newspaper but there is risk of accident due
to lack of road awareness. As per the policies of health and safety, it is important to provide proper
space to the patients so that they cannot feel dependent. In matter of Halley, at the one side, end
nurse needs to take care of him due to his mental illness and on the other hand, she has to provide
proper independence so that Halley does not feel dependent and demotivated (Safeguarding adults,
2015.). For resolving this issue, nurse can go with the Halley without interrupting him in his work.
With the help of this, she can keep her eyes on patient and can also help him in crossing road for
purchasing newspaper (Price, Doucet and Hall, 2014).
On the other hand, psychiatric nurse can effectively communicate about the issue with
Halley by maintaining his respect and dignity. This can result to convince Halley for sending nurse
to the market for buying his favourite newspaper rather than going himself. Policy regarding time to
time medication can also help nurse in resolving this issue (Health and safuty in the health and
social care workplace, 2013). Along with this, social firm can use policies regarding the food safety,
safeguarding, cleaning, lone working, security of premises, etc. On the other hand, system of the
social care organisation needs to follow proper process so that they can give time to time medicines
to Halley with regular treatments. This can help them in solving the health and safety issues of
Halley properly and effectively. In context to this, training should be provided to the staff members
who are taking care of Halley so that they can treat and handle him well (Mollica, 2012).
My contribution in promoting health and safety of Halley
As a social care worker, I promote health and safety for Halley by following all the policies
and procedures of firm. I regularly check-up him for getting information about the improvement in
his health. Along with it, I give prescribed medicines as per the mention time and ways for fast and
quick recovery of the patient. I monitor all the tasks and works performed by service user for
controlling and handling him from doing wrong and unsafe tasks. I divert mind of Halley in his area
of interest so that he can keep himself busy which helps in bringing improvement in him. I also

provide quality services to Halley, keep the environment clean and hygienic for preventing him
from other infections, offer him healthy and quality food for good diet as well as maintain a good
relation with respect and dignity so that Halley can share everything with me.
CONCLUSION
The above report has been focused on different legislative policies and framework which are
needed to maintain health and safety at workplace. Different examples of non-compliances and their
effect on health and safety practices have also stated in the study. The report has also explored
different health and safety policies which are required in promoting health and social care services
effectively and in a positive manner. The overall study is based on two different cases of old age
and apraxia respectively. Implementation of various health and safety policies for contributing and
promoting healthcare services by service user have also been discussed in the above report. To
analyse the demand and needs of service users, an effective risk assessment plan has been prepared
which will also help in organisational decision-making.

REFERENCES
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