Assessing Health and Safety Systems in Health and Social Care

This report provides a detailed overview of health and safety within health and social care workplaces, emphasizing the importance of established systems, policies, and procedures for effective communication and risk management. It highlights the responsibilities of organizations and employees in maintaining a safe environment, adhering to legal requirements such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981. The report also addresses the unique challenges in care home settings, stressing the need for a positive and safe environment that respects individuality and client rights. Furthermore, it explores the role of risk assessments in identifying and mitigating potential hazards, as well as the individual contributions to promoting health and safety in practice, including ethical considerations, quality service, and continuous improvement through training and self-evaluation, referencing various sources on health care and patient safety.

HEALTH AND SAFETY
IN HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE
WORKPLACE

1.1- Systems, policies and procedures for
communicating information on health
and safety
Policies and procedures are something that are important in every organisation to run
smoothly and maintain control at the same time giving direction to the flow of activities.
 Communicating the policies is also important as employees should be aware of them in
order to follow them.
 Adhering to all the policies makes an organisation successful.
 Safety has been significant since ages. Everyone looks for health and safety first and
then other things are taken into account.
 In order to protect the rights of an individual, UK government has formulated some
policies and acts have been laid.
 At Frenchay hospital, organisational culture states all the saftey standards and they have
been poured in the system since the begining.
 When seniors follow the policies, only then employees do the same.
 Management people should strictly follow norms and policies in order to maintain the
direction.

Continued...
 In order to give assurance to workers and service users, health and safety workplace act
(1974) should be applied.
 Health committees and representatives should be there to solve health and safety
problems.
 Workplace conditions should be safe enough for the employees.
 Customers also expect safety at workplace as they are the ones being serviced at
Frenchay.
 Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981: It governs the provision of first aid to
the employees. It has three main duties:
 Employers should provide first aid.
 They should make employees aware of such arrangements.
 Self employed people should provide first-aid equipments.

1.2- Responsibilities of an organisation
 At Frenchay, it is every employer's duty to set some policies and working processes.
This is the responsibility of every employer in all the organisations.
 It is not only employers who are responsible for ensuring health and safety of its
employees. Even employees should come forward in solving such problems and
following standards.
 Employers should guide the employees in situations where they are confused and
lack in information about safety.
 They keep the workers safe from other dangerous situations.
 Abide by all the laws and legislative requirements to maintain law and order.
 Identifying situations that are perilous and take measure accordingly, is another
important thing.
 Proper personal protective equipment (PPE) should be provided.

Continued...
 When employees join the organisation, at the initial stages only they should be
made aware about the work culture and trained in a manner that they understand and
are moulded according to the requirements of Frenchay.
 Supervisers should expertise in their fields in order to help others when they need.
 There should be inspections done and reviews should be taken in order to find out
the drawbacks if any. This should be done at particular set time interims.
 Instant provisions should be available if the situation demands.

1.3- Health and safety priorities
 Care homes have a different kind of setting and environment than other
organisations. It should be designed carefully in order to keep it safe.
 These organisations should be kept pleasant, green and happy to provide a sense of
positivity.
 The worplace should be safe and healthy along with all the policies applied and
adhered to.
 At Frenchay, every working member takes care of their own acts as it may affect
others in a bad way. They acre about their co-workers, other satff members and
management as a whole.
 Employees at Frenchay take great care of their clients and other workers as well.
 Clients belong to different cultures, they prefer different things and this hsould be
given respect by the employees. Individuality is of utmost importance.
 Keeping their personal information confidential is important as they may feel bad
about it in case care takers do not respect it.

Continued...
 Individuality, freedom of speech, client's rights all are understood by the clients
when they serve them. They also keep in mind the laws and policies that are to be
followed.
 Frenchay sets a proper risk assessment procedure for situations like when service
users who are violent at times and create a different scenario for them to protect
others.
 Technology used and equipments should be up- to- date in order to prevent any
violation of laws.
 Manuals containing risk assessment procedures should be prepared in advance so
that employees can use them when they require.
 Workplace entry and exit should be safe, the floors doors and other things should be
inspected to protect the service users as well as employees.
 There should be appropriate signage boards at places where required. Housekeeping
practices and activities should be managed well.

2.1- Information from risk assessments
 Risk assessment: An organised form of estimating potential risk which may
occur due to some activities at workplace.
 Monitoring and reviewing of processes and activities is a must which helps
in identifying risk in advance.
 Due to avoiding any small problem, there may be a risk involved.
 These organisations should be well-equipped and processes should be well
planned and executed to keep the employees and clients safe.
 Well planned policies should be used to prevent any kind of incalculable
situations.
 At Frenchay, they have a well planned risk assessment system which they
follow very strictly.
 It helps in informing about the limitations of the system that should be
identified and eliminated within time limits.

Continued...
 “Prevention is better than cure.” Identification of risk is important so as to
take actions and prevent such situations from occuring.
 Experience makes people learn.
 At the time of risk audit, all the workplace and service issues come up and
that is the way they are identified.
 The audit also helps the organisation in revising their policies.
 Slippery floors should always have a signage board that says' caution, wet
floor'.
 Walking coridors and passages should be free from any kind of obstructions.
 Warning signs at the required places should be appropriate.
 Fire exit boards should be put and other boards should be appropriately
labelled.

3.3- Own contributions to placing the
health and safety needs of individuals at
the centre of practice
 I promote health and safety at workplace.
 I contribute towards it by ensuring that I follow all the policies and laws of
the organisation.
 Violating the laws can prove to be dangerous to others as well as ownself.
 I also respect individuality, rights of people, humanity, culture and
preferences of clients and also their wants.
 When there is any ethical dilemma, iask management people to guide so that
there is no wrong act done.
 I mainatain good relations and keep client's trust by keeping their perosnal
information confidential.
 Loyalty leads to satisfaction. If the servise users trust care takers then
theywill cooperate as well as be satisfied with their service.

Continued...
 Quality in service should not be compromised at any cost.
 It is as important as health and safety is.
 I make sure that i provide quality service each time i serve the clients.
 Well equipped and technologically sound organisation grows.
 I keep communication clear and simple.
 Better communication is a criteria for making the organisation successful.
Important information should be transferred to all those who require it.
 I demand trainings when there is a need to cope up with the outside
environment or when there are technological advancements.
 I keep evaluating my performance regularly based on my own set of factors.

REFERENCES
 Carayon, P. ed., 2016. Handbook of human factors and ergonomics in health
care and patient safety. CRC Press.
 Cherry, B. and Jacob, S.R., 2015. Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, &
management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
 Baicker, K., Cutler, D. and Song, Z., 2010. “Workplace wellness programs can
generate savings”. Health affairs. 29(2). pp. 304-311.
 Braveman, P., Egerter, S. and Williams, D.R., 2011. “The social determinants of
health: coming of age”. Annual review of public health. 32. pp. 381-398.
 Baldwin, S.B. And et. al., 2011. “Identification of human trafficking victims in
health care settings”. Health Hum Rights. 13(1). pp. E36-49.

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