Risk Assessment Report: Vacenti Aged Care Home, Australia

This report presents a comprehensive risk assessment for the Vacenti aged care home, a residential facility in Australia. It begins by defining risk assessment and its importance in healthcare settings, highlighting the significance of preventing unintentional and intentional injuries among the elderly population. The report identifies Vacenti's operational context, emphasizing its role in the aged care industry and its commitment to patient-centered care. It then details the specific environmental risks prevalent in the facility, such as fire outbreaks, falls, and water leakage, and emphasizes the vulnerability of the elderly residents. Key agencies governing workplace health and safety are discussed, including Safe Work Australia and emergency protocols. The report explores relevant policies, such as the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022, and emphasizes the need for compliance. The findings underscore the critical importance of a robust risk management protocol, including emergency plans and regular quality checks. The report concludes with recommendations for mitigating the identified risks, such as adhering to safety guidelines and revising emergency protocols to ensure a secure environment for the residents.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Introduction:
According to Safe Work Australia (2019), risk assessment can be defined as a term
that specifically describes the overall process of identifying a risk or a potential hazard and
then analyse the risk and evaluate the associated outcome. Unintentional injuries like fall,
injuries from fire, heat or hot substances are very common among the elderly population.
Recent study has shown that, in the year 2013, incidence rate of unintentional injuries were
8377 per 100, 000 (Haagsma et al., 2016). Additionally, the deaths from unintentional
injuries were 2007 thousands. Intentional injuries like self- harm and interpersonal violence
were also common among the elderly people, however, incidence rate (336 per 100,000) is
comparatively low in this case as well as number of death (1247 thousands) (Haagsma et al.,
2016). In order to maintain a safe and hygienic work environment, it is important to conduct a
risk assessment and accordingly devise mitigating methods so as to ensure that the risk is
mitigated appropriately.
Identified Health Facility:
This paper deals with the Vacenti aged care home which is a residential care facility
for the elderly based at Australia. This facility can be placed among the Aged Care Industry
which is a sub division of healthcare industry. The aged care home is located in the south east
Queensland and has been functioning for more than 40 years (Vacenti, 2019). The aged care
home is owned by a family and the family values are positioned at the core of the business.
The residential care facility is managed by a team of multidisciplinary healthcare
professionals who are extremely qualified, compassionate and amiable as well as readily
approachable (Vacenti, 2019). Further, the care facility also offers specialized care services
so as to impart an experience of premiere quality to the patient. The care professionals
working at the aged care home put the patients at the heart of the care process and offer care

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by serving the patients with dignity and prioritizing the care specific needs. Care
professionals typically include the elements of compassion, empathy, responsiveness,
endurance, originality, positive feedback as well as continuous improvement in the care
process so as to improve the care process (Vacenti, 2019). The history of the Vacenti aged
care facility can be traced back to 1973 when the facility had a strength of only 80 beds and
the subsequent years marked the evolution of the care facility to the launch of a new QRS
brand to the trading name ‘Vacenti’ (Vacenti, 2019). Further, the year 2018, marked the
grand planning of opening 100 aged care suites across Prtofino Hamilton along with 15 aged
care apartments and 35 spacious and luxurious living apartments for the senior citizens
(Vacenti, 2019).
Identified Risks:
As has already been discussed in the previous sections that the residential care facility
intends to offer support to the senior adults, it is obvious that the care facility is subjected to a
number of environmental risks. Specifically, in this regard as the aged care facility is an
inpatient facility, risks associated to fire outbreak, short circuit, water leakage within the
restrooms and fall as well as accidents is unavoidable (WorkSafe Queensland, 2019). Further,
rusted bed stands could lead to demolishing furniture which could further give rise to
accidents. In addition to this, uneven floor level or undulating surface of the floor could lead
to falls in the elderly. Therefore, the care facility must critically assure that safety measures
are in place to mitigate the risks associated with these unforeseen events so as foster a safe
and secure residential environment (WorkSafe Queensland, 2019). It should be crucially
noted that the residential care facility includes a set of vulnerable population that comprises
of senior adults with chronic illness issues such as COPD and Diabetes that limit the ability
of the individuals to perform activities of daily living. Research studies suggest that
uncontrolled symptoms of Diabetes often interfere with the normal vision that makes the

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elderly more susceptible to injuries caused by environmental risks and hazards (Megari,
2013).
Key agencies that govern work health safety:
In order to ensure the workplace safety and secure the environment of the residential
care environment, a number of community support agencies are available that offer
appropriate support. In case if there is an emergency or an accident, the accident must be
reported to the official authority of the Safe Work Australia, Queensland and accordingly
support assistance should be sought (Safe Work Australia, 2019). Care professionals are
expected to possess an in depth knowledge about the emergency procedures so as to ensure
that the safety of the patients is not compromised (Safe Work Australia, 2019). Also, the
facilities must possess a risk identification protocol to identify the risk and accordingly adapt
measures to tackle the risk. For instance, in case of a fire breakout or a short circuit, care
professionals, staff and the security must ensure that the patients do not panic and raise the
fire alarm (Safety.uwa.edu.au, 2019). Further, individuals must be warned not to use the lifts
or elevators and accordingly manage the emergency evacuation. Also, staff professionals
must be trained to manage emergency situations by identifying the correct cause of the fire
breakout and making an appropriate choice of the fire extinguisher so as to extinguish the
fire, if the breakout is mild and manageable (Safety.uwa.edu.au, 2019). Further, care
professionals must take special care of the disabled or patients with limiting illness and
restrict unnecessary movement and exposure to the risk so as to ensure safety. Further, the
care facility would tackle risks pertaining to faulty bedding or pesticide manifestation within
the bedding as well as fall prevention on account of the undulating ground surface or water
spill due to leakage by regular inspection and assurance of quality control.
Discussion on related policies:

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The Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012- 2022 has characteristically
identified healthcare setting as a priority area and accordingly framed policies to reduce
accidents and injuries (Safety.uwa.edu.au, 2019). Health care organizations as well as
residential care facilities are expected to comply with the relevant Western Australian
Legislation, codes as well as practice guidelines. The organizations are expected to contain
emergency warning systems installed as well as a Emergency Control Organization ready, or
it could lead to the cancellation of the registration of the organization. In addition to this, if an
injury is caused to an employee or a staff, under the act of Safety Rehabilitation and
Compensation Act 1988, the organization is entitled to compensate the medical costs
associated with the treatment of the injury (Safe Work Australia, 2019).
Summarising findings:
Therefore, on the basis of the above discussion, it can be mentioned that it is
extremely important to ensure work place safety within a health care organization or a
residential care facility that hosts a significant proportion of vulnerable population. It is
pivotal for the organization to keep a risk management protocol in place and comply with the
guidelines published by the Australian Workplace Health and Safety legislation (Safe Work
Australia, 2019). Failure to keep a risk management policy in place could lead to cancellation
of the licensure of the organization.
Risk management strategy:
As has already been discussed the risk management strategy would comprise of
keeping in place the emergency risk management plans for the identified risks that involves
accidents caused by fire or short circuit and ensuring a quality check on bedding, floor
inspection as well as the tap and pipelines used in the residential care facility. Special
consideration should be made for the vulnerable patients who are disabled or suffer from

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critical illness or anxiety attack. For safety purpose unnecessary movement and exposure to
risk should be avoided and the emergency protocol for evacuation should be followed.
Recommendations:
Therefore, the recommendations to mitigate the identified risks would comprise of
adhering to the work health and safety guidelines published by the SWA Queensland
Jurisdiction. In addition to this, regular quality inspection and revising the emergency
protocol can help in mitigating the risks to ensure environmental security.

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References:
Haagsma, J. A., Graetz, N., Bolliger, I., Naghavi, M., Higashi, H., Mullany, E. C., ... &
Ameh, E. A. (2016). The global burden of injury: incidence, mortality, disability-
adjusted life years and time trends from the Global Burden of Disease study
2013. Injury prevention, 22(1), 3-18.
Megari, K. (2013). Quality of life in chronic disease patients. Health Psychology
Research, 1(3).
Safe Work Australia (2019). Health care and social assistance. [online] Safe Work Australia.
Available at: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/industry_business/health-care-
and-social-assistance [Accessed 3 May 2019].
Safe Work Australia (2019). Information sheet - Australian and other Standards. [online]
Safe Work Australia. Available at:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/information-sheet-australian-and-other-
standards [Accessed 3 May 2019].
Safety.uwa.edu.au (2019). Staff and support : Safety, Health and Wellbeing : The University
of Western Australia. [online] Safety.uwa.edu.au. Available at:
http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/staff-support [Accessed 3 May 2019].
Vacenti (2019). Homepage - Vacenti. [online] Vacenti. Available at:
https://www.vacenti.com.au/ [Accessed 3 May 2019].
WorkSafe Queensland (2019). Codes of practice. [online] WorkSafe Queensland. Available
at: https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/laws-and-compliance/codes-of-practice
[Accessed 3 May 2019].

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WorkSafe Queensland (2019). Health and community care industry. [online] WorkSafe
Queensland. Available at: https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/health [Accessed 3 May
2019].