Report: Health and Safety in the Dental Environment, Procedures

This report comprehensively addresses health and safety within the dental environment, outlining crucial policies and procedures based on relevant legislation. It details the roles and responsibilities of a dental nurse in adhering to these guidelines, including aspects of administration, governance, quality, and maintenance. The report identifies workplace procedures such as safe working methods, handling of hazardous substances, and emergency protocols. It also highlights potential hazards in dental surgery, including exposure to viral infections, noise, and musculoskeletal disorders, along with unsafe working practices that can lead to harm. The report further provides guidelines for environmentally friendly practices, in line with health and safety regulations. It covers hazard management strategies for specific scenarios like mercury spills and radiation exposure, and emphasizes the importance of effective team working for safe patient care. The report concludes with a list of references, supporting the information presented with credible sources.

Contribute to health and safety in
the dental environment

Table of Contents
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1 Four policies and procedures on the basis of health and safety legislation and role of nurse
according to policies and procedures...........................................................................................1
2. Workplace procedures.............................................................................................................1
3. 3 aspect which are necessary to comply by Dental Nurse role................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
1. Hazards of dental surgery........................................................................................................2
2. Four working practises which can result in harm....................................................................2
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
1. Four sets of guidelines of surgery for environmental friendly practices.................................3
2. 4 in line health and safety guidelines ......................................................................................3
3. Dealing with particular hazard.................................................................................................3
5. 5 Ways of effective team working in safe patient care............................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

TASK 1
1 Four policies and procedures on the basis of health and safety legislation and role of nurse
according to policies and procedures
Administration: In this focus of dental nurse is on seeking consent, confidentiality and
information management of patient.
Governance: In this focus of dental nurse is to ensure appropriate monitoring of health
outcomes of patients for managing risk and preventing hazardous accidents.
Quality: In this focus of dental nurse is on ensuring safety of dental equipments and
proceeding at the time of treatment (Quinn and et.al., 2015).
Maintenance: In accordance with this focus of dental nurse is on quality of patient
surroundings and dental equipments' storage in order to prevent infection.
2. Workplace procedures
Procedure of Workplace Legislation Necessary to comply with
these regulations
Safe working methods and
equipments
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases
and Dangerous Occurrences
(RIDDOR) 2013
It helps in maintaining safety
of work environment for
workers as well as patients
Safe use of Hazardous
substance
Control of Substances
Hazardous to Health (COSHH)
2002
It suggests appropriate use of
dental equipments and
instrument to prevent cross
contamination which is
hazardous
Smoking Prohibition of Smoking in
Certain Premises
(Scotland) Regulations 2006
No individuals is allowed to
smoke is hospital premises
Eating Food and safety Act 1990 In accordance with this food is
allowed only in pantry of
hospitals (Sarkar and Shigli,
2012)
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Drinking and Drugs Health and Safety at Work etc.
Act 1974
It is regulated to ensure
patient safety against
hazardous practices.
Emergency procedures Occupational health and safety It enables guidelines which
helps in managing safety
against hazardous and risk.
Personal presentation Data protection Act It enables safe and continental
use of patient information. It
aims at safe and appropriate
information handling.
Handling and moving Control of Substances
Hazardous to Health (COSHH)
2002
It reduces the risk of using
contaminated medical
material, equipments and
instruments.
3. 3 aspect which are necessary to comply by Dental Nurse role
 Single use equipments: It is mandatory compliance which needs to assured by dental
nurse I n order eliminating risk of cross contamination and infection.
 Latex gloves: It is necessary for the dental health care practitioner to make use of glove
in order to avoid direct contact with patient wound which can be infectious for patient
wound site and harmful for nurse (Weddell, Sanders and Jones, 2016).
 Alginate: These are the tools which are used by dentist at the time of root canal
therefore, it is important for the dental nurse to shape and clean the tool before and after
use.
TASK 2
1. Hazards of dental surgery
The major hazards of dental surgery comprise exposure to viral hepatitis and Human
Immunodeficiency Virus. Apart from his, it involves risk from noise, musculoskeletal disorders,
dermatitis, etc.
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2. Four working practises which can result in harm
 Eye Injuries
 Cross contamination
 Infectious diseases
 Injuries due to repetitive motions.
TASK 3
1. Four sets of guidelines of surgery for environmental friendly practices
 Data Protection Act
 Care quality Commission
 Direct access of registrant groups
 Occupational health and safety
2. 4 in line health and safety guidelines
 Hand hygiene
 Waste management
 Sterilisation of dental equipments (Organisation of your Dental Policies and Procedures,
2015)
 Maintaining adequate record and images of medical sheet and dental information of
patient.
3. Dealing with particular hazard
Hazard Management of hazard Responsible person
Spillage of mercury Wiping off visible beads with
wet paper towels and trashing
paper used for cleaning
Assistant dental nurse or
registered dental nurse
Radiation Continuation in oral care and
therapy
Registered dental nurse
Cross infection Aseptic needs to done for
sterilizing equipments and
eliminating micro organism
Registered dental nurse or
dental professional
Environmental factors Cleaning and maintained of
surrounding and medial and
Assistant dental nurse or
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clinical equipments. registered dental nurse
Spillages Apply use of protective
equipments and spills needs to
cleaned quickly to avoid cross
contamination and bacterial
growth.
Assistant dental nurse or
registered dental nurse
Waste disposal The X ray disposal needs to
drained after diluting in water
People of X ray unit.
Sharps This needs to stored in
puncture resistance container
which have lid that can not be
removed.
Assistant dental nurse or
registered dental nurse
5. 5 Ways of effective team working in safe patient care
 Clarification in job role among team members
 avoid making assumption
 Ensuring sterilisation of dental equipments
 Sharing knowledge and work
 Coordination and cooperation
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Quinn, M.M. and et.al., 2015. Cleaning and disinfecting environmental surfaces in health care:
toward an integrated framework for infection and occupational illness
prevention. American journal of infection control. 43(5). pp.424-434.
Sarkar, P.A. and Shigli, A.L., 2012. Ergonomics in general dental practice. Peoples J Scient Res.
5(1). pp.56-60.
Weddell, J.A., Sanders, B.J. and Jones, J.E., 2016. Dental problems of children with special
health care needs. In McDonald and Avery's Dentistry for the Child and Adolescent
(Tenth Edition) (pp. 513-539).
Online
Organisation of your Dental Policies and Procedures. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.qcs.co.uk/organisation-of-your-dental-policies-and-procedures/>.
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