Health and Safety in the Dental Environment: A Comprehensive Report

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DN 1: Contribute to health and safety in the dental
environment
Task 1
In the dental profession, there will be policies and procedures to follow in accordance with
current health and safety legislation.
1. DN1 1.1, 1.2 range 1a, 3a-e, LO3 range 4bc
Describe the following and how they relate to you.
Health & Safety at Work Act
1974
This legislation helps in protecting us as staff and
patients at dental workplace from any occupational
hazards while serving dental treatment and find best
ways by which these hazards can be avoided
COSHH COSHH stands for control of substances hazardous to
health. These are the set rules for dental workplaces,
which aim at protecting the dental nurses and other
workers while working and handling certain materials
and substances.
Environmental Protection
Act 1990 (include special
waste regs)
This act focuses on disposal of hazardous waste
safely. In dental workplace it is important to sort the
non- domestic waste in separate containers and
arrange for its safe disposal.
IR(ME)R (include local rules) It stands for ionizing radiation (medical exposure)
regulations. This concerns with the use of x-rays,
which has ionizing radiation in dental workplace. It
aims at reducing the risk of patients and dental
nurses exposing to harmful radiations during
treatments.
RIDDOR It stands for reporting of injuries, diseases and
dangerous occurrences regulations. According to this
law it is required to report incidences at work place
with employees, self-employed individual or workers
under any set premises. Which can help in taking
actions to avoid any serious occurrences in favor of

dental nurses
HTM 01-05 It aims at improving the quality of decontaminated
work at dental work places as primary care. It
includes the services related to the reuse of
decontaminated instruments at dental work places.
2. DN1 1.2 range 1abc, 2.2 range 1a, 2abc, 3abc
Look at the following workplace procedures and describe how they are relevant to
health and safety and why it is important to follow the procedures.
Workplace
procedure
Legislation related to workplace
procedure
Why is it important to follow the
procedures?
Safe working
methods and
equipment
Under the health and safety act
1974 in order to provide the
patients with primary medical and
dental care it is important that the
employees are trained
appropriately and can handle the
sharp materials and other
substances with care by not
hurting themselves or the
patients.
The provided set of regulations is
to be followed by the dental
practitioners in order to avoid
any risk during the dental
procedure. It is important to
train the staff and keep them in
initial supervision while dental
procedures to provide them with
better and safe working
environment staff
Safe use of
hazardous
substances
Various non-domestic substances
are used while dental procedures
and for the proper environmental
disposal of these various
legislation like COSHH 1994,
RIDDOR 1995, HSAWA1974 and
other special waste and hazardous
waste regulation 2005 were
introduced by the government at
focusing proper disposal of
It is important to follow the
safety instruction while disposing
and handling the materials and
substances in dental practice as it
can directly or indirectly harm
the practitioner or other
individual for example use of
amalgam which has mercury
content has to be disposed
properly to avoid mercury

substances and materials which
can harm the environment and
other individuals
toxicity also the harm objects like
knife, bp blade, syringe should be
used and disposed properly in
avoid and unnecessary injury by
eye contact or Sharp cuts.
Smoking,
eating, drinking
and drugs.
Smoking and drinking is strictly
prohibited at the dental work
places under THE FIRE
PRECAUTION REGULATION 1990
considering the safety of the
professionals as well as the
patients. As a result of which
smoke alarms were activated at
work places.
In dental practices it is not
allowed to work under the
influence of drugs or alcohol at it
may put the patients like at risk.
Other then that smoking under
enclosed areas can contaminate
the sterilized instruments for
dental use. Improper disposal of
cigarettes can have high risk of
fire. Other then this it not
acceptable that patients drink or
smoke before coming for the
dental procedures as the alcohol
content in the body might react
with any other drug can result in
harmful effects. Whistle policy by
the staff can used in order to give
signal in case of any mishap.
Emergency
procedures
The government introduced fire
precaution regulation 1990,
HSAWA 1974, COSHH 1994 etc. in
order to evaluate risk for the
dental nurses and patients for any
emergency hazards or mishap.
Various safety measures should be
preplanned to deal with any such
situation at dental workplace.
In dental practices where various
small to big injuries and other
mishap are expected therefore
evaluating the proper risk
management the workplace
should keep proper first aid in
case of emergency and train the
staff to handle any such
problems. Also fire security
alarms should be activated.
Under COSHH early evaluation of
risk will lead to better safety
measures taken.
Personal
presentation
Under the act of HSAWA 1974 the
safety of dental nurses is
important and can also be done by
protection done at personal level
by using gloves, gowns etc. by the
dental nurses which is required to
be provided by the organization
itself.
In the dental workplace work
place the use of personal
protective equipment’s like
gloves, protective eye wear,
masks, gowns are suggested to
be used for the self protection of
dental nurses and other staff it
can help in protecting them from
the spread of any harmful
diseases.

Moving and
handling
Under the policies and act given by
the government that is HSAWA
1974 which proposes safety and
security of the employees while
dental procedures and handling
instruments like sharp objects and
other substances and materials
carefully it is required that the
organization train the staff well
keeping in mind their security.
The staff and the dental
practitioners should be well
trained and educated regarding
handling of various sharp objects
and other substances while
dental procedures also the staff
should be effectively working on
taking special precautions while
transferring the sterilized
instruments from one room to
another.
3. DN1 1.3
Describe the reasons for following all manufacturer's instructions
4. DN1 3.2
How could you contribute to Health and Safety in your own workplace?
It is important to follow the instructions that are provided by the
manufacturer on the packing of various materials as it can help in avoiding
any hazardous disposal of the waste, it can avoid any sudden accident at
work place and the evaluation of risk management for patients and dental
practitioners also becomes easier.
In my workplace I will make sure that the staff and the dental professional
are trained properly and are aware of each material and its proper use. I
would require that all the staff follow the guidelines under the health and
safety act in order to protect themselves from any injury or incident at work
place. Also I will make sure that under COSHH the entire non-domestic
disposal from my workplace is collected separately and disposed safely
according to the rules. Also actions will be equally take in case of any
drinking and smoking found at the workplace by the patients or the staff and
relevant fire risk protection will be taken for the staff, other employees and
patients.