Icon College Unit 3 Health and Safety at workplace
Task 1A
1.1 Review of systems, policies and procedures for communicating information on health and safety in the health and social care workplace in accordance with legislative requirements
For the employees at health and social care centres, it is vital to realize the importance and value of health and safety rules that needs to be followed at the centre. It is important for them to know about these rules for the sake of safety of patients as well as for themselves. In case of health and social care centres these rules play more significant role in comparison to any other category of organization.
Execution of health and safety legislation
The communication process is generally categorized into procedures and policies (Aveyard & Sharp, 2013). The other very vital requirement is to have a proper department and a responsible person who can be given responsibility of protection of the organization in whole. The most important requirement regarding the execution of health and safety legislation is that the centre must be ready to accept all the guidelines regarding the safety of the health and social care centre. There are various Health and Safety Acts as well as Food Acts which are designed for the safety the centres. And the last requirement is to be updated with the technology. All the advanced and improved technical instruments and equipment must be installed at the centre.
Assessment of Systems and Policies
For the success of system and policy it is important that all the policies must be according to the culture and structure of the centre. This can be done with the help of care organizations, these organizations ensure that all the safety rules are in place at the centre. Usually various organizations and centres have their own particular needs and desires and hence they must choose the strategy of implementing the policy as per the organizational needs.
Ways to comprehend and communicate the health and safety at the workplace
The most important and significant point to consider while communication is to review and keep a check on the safety policies. It needs to be updated and it also helps a lot to learn from the past mistakes and do not repeat it again (Black, 2011). The policies must be developed and implemented at all the levels i.e. at individual level as well as managerial level. It is very important that the policies must be taken care at all the levels. There should be a proper management information to keep a check on the proper implementation of the health and safety policies at the workplace.
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1.2 The responsibilities for management of health and safety in relation to organisational structures
Management plays a significant role in the proper implementation of health and safety measure at the health and social care settings. The service providers must be given proper training and education in this regard. The training must include even the smallest possible thing like the point of keeping the care centre clean. There are many health problems which can be avoided just by keeping the place clean. There should be proper waste management system so that there are no health issues caused due to undisposed harmful materials. The workers should also be told about the usage of the safety equipment like fire extinguisher.
The roles and responsibilities of management at various levels is as following:
- The top management which is mentioned as TM. The main responsibility of the top management is to give training and educate the care workers. They are the people who get and install all the safety equipment in the organization (Karsh, 2006).
- The mid-level manager are designated as MLM are the one who are actually in direct contact with the workers. They make sure that the given training is properly understood by the service providers.
- Employees represented by E are the actual implementers of the policy. They are the one who are likely to follow the policies strictly. Care workers have full right to approach to TM or MLM in case of any confusion or problem.
- The safety consultant represented as SC is the third party which are assigned with the responsibility to educate the organization about the health and safety policies.
So, this is the proper process with the help of which all the policy and guidelines are communicated at all the levels in the organization. It is expected from the care workers at all the levels to follow these rules and regulations for the safety of the patients as well as the employees.
Task 1B
Analysis of health and safety priorities that are appropriate for a specific health and social care workplace setting
This can be best understood with the help of a case below. The case is regarding a 30yr old lady who died due to wrong medicine after giving birth to a child (Cunningham, 2012). The lady who was a nurse too, was injected was injected with an epidural drug in her arm whereas she was supposed to get injected with just the saline solution. Due to complications of medicines, the lady died in an hour from the time she was injected with the medicine. After the incident, Health and Safety Executives (HSE) came for investigation and they found that the two medicines with almost same packing are kept on same shelf of the rack. There is a policy under Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 under which t there should be proper storage of the medicines and drugs used for the patients, but this incident clearly proves that in the hospital there was no importance given to the storage of the medicines in the proper manner.
According to HSE the incident happened just because of carelessness of the organization and following the storage safeguarding guidelines properly. The lady who had a normal delivery and was perfectly fine was just prescribed with a simple saline solution so as to raise her blood pressure but she was given a wrong drug due to poor storage system which took her life. The hospital was fined with a huge amount of money. After the incident, HSE asked the management of the hospital to take care of this policy and place the drugs at their proper place. HSE mentioned that storage of medicines at proper place is very important so as to avoid these kind of cases in future. Once the hospital was fined and they knew about the right reason of the incident, the management took ensured to take care of the issue and promised the HSE team that they would store the medicines and drugs at proper place now.
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Task 2
2.1 Principles of care planning
Most of risks and hazardous things in the organization are related to the daily use equipment like electrical instruments, inflammable equipment and the methods of transportation within the care centre building. There must appropriate measure taken to handle the situation if some hazardous situation occurs. It is very important to keep balance between the freedom of people and the safety measures (Gordon & Findley, 2011). There should be safety measures which put on the least restrictions on the workers as well as the patients. If there will be too much of restrictions, the workers will not feel like following the rules for safety measures. This kind of risk assessment system make it easy for the policy makers to get the exact need and requirement of the safety in the organization. For example if there is some organization where there is more risk of accidents due to electricity then while implementing the safety measure more emphasis will be given on electrical requirements, proper circuit breakers will be installed within the premises and proper training will be given to the workers.
A risk assessment template is given as below:
| Hazard | Sternness | Affected people | Existing Control Measures | |
| Fire | High | Both employees as well as patients | Employees must be educated about the safety rules and they must be given training about usage of extinguisher | |
| Electricity | High | Both employees as well as patients | Good quality fixtures should be used and there must be circuit breaker system | |
| Accidents within the organization | High | Both employees as well as patients | Appropriate sign boards must be there along with strict rules of driving within the premises. There must be proper lighting for the night | |
| Wastes produced at the centre | Medium | Both employees as well as patients | Accurate waste management system should be there |
2.2 Impact of one aspect of health and safety policy on health and social care practice and its customer
This comes under Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 act which states that all the damage or ailments must be informed within the appropriate time. The reporting of accident at proper time and t the proper person is very crucial in controlling the effects of the accident. There must very strict rules and guidelines in order to ensure that the accident is reported on time and to the correct person. The different accidents are handled in different ways and hence it is very important that the right person is reported about the accidents or the incident (Naylor, 2011). For example if there is an fire accident then along with the trained people within the organization a fire station also needs to be informed regarding the accident so that an immediate help can be arrived. Similarly the doctors who are well versed in giving first aid should also be given information about the incident. Each and every member in the premises should be well aware about all the immediate contact points because in emergency time plays a very crucial role. In order to avoid any kind of wastage of time a proper list of the contact details of all the person and organizations which needs to be contacted during the emergency should be prepared and distributed among the employees and patients.
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2.3 Dilemma encountered in relation to implementing systems and policies for health, safety and security
The dilemma encountered in relation to implementing system and policies for health, safety and security at organization is to keep an equilibrium between the policy implementation and the freedom of the others. Suppose there is a patient who cannot walk properly but he is interested in doing his own works, then there is a dilemma if he should be allowed to do his works or not because there are chances that if he is allowed he might harm himself. Hence there is a need of proper rules and regulations which can keep a balance between the implementation and the freedom. There should be prioritization, i.e. the policies which are implemented for the most hazardous risk should be implemented with strictness in comparison to the ones which are for not so hazardous risks (Suter, 2009).
In order to handle this kind of dilemma, the only way is that the employees need to be more alert and cautious. This means that the patients should be allowed to do whatever they want but there must be a proper guidance and eye on them so that they do not hurt themselves. This is important to be handled very carefully as the emotions of the patients is involved. These are the tough situations for the workers and hence they must handle them very carefully and patiently.
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2.4 Effects of non-compliance with health and safety legislation in the health and social care workplace
Effects of non-compliance with the health and safety legislation in the health and social care workplace can be very hazardous. All the policies and rules are made for the safety of the people and of they are not followed properly by the organization they would face the adverse effects of it. It is very important for the organizations to follow these rules as the employees and the customers are well aware about all the rules and hence they also like to work and visit to those places only where all the guidelines are followed (Lewin & Reeves, 2011). It will be totally unethical on the part of organization to risks the lives of people by not following the rules and regulations for safety measures. Compliance with the health and safety legislation helps in developing a mutual trust between the organization and the workers which in return gives birth to an optimistic work environment. If workers are well aware about the safety procedures they fell much secured while working in the organization.
Health and Security Executives play a significant role here, they are the authorised people to keep a track on the health and care centres reading the compliance issue. They can penalise the organizations for not following the rules and even can send the ban letters to them.
Task 3
3.1 How health and safety policies and practice are monitored and reviewed?
It is very important to review and monitor the health and safety policies in an organization as it helps in understanding the effectiveness of the system. There are various steps and procedures with the help of which a complete monitoring and reviewing could be done. The various steps are as following:
Audit: Auditing is the inspection of the organization by the third party. It is always better to get checked by the third party as they can have holistic view from outside. Auditing should takes place at regular interval of time so as to judge the effectiveness of the system.
Evaluation: There should be proper evaluation of all the policies and guidelines that are being followed, it will help to find the gap between the requirement and the current policies.
Upgrading: In case if there is any gap found during evaluation, the current policies must be immediately updated as per the requirement.
There are number of issues like low turn up customers, absenteeism of the employees etc. which can be handled with proper monitoring and reviewing. Proper assessment will help in understanding the reasons behind any kind of issue faced by the organization. Once the reasons are known, appropriate steps could be taken to overcome the problem (Lewin & Reeves, 2011).
3.2 Effectiveness of health and safety policies and practices in the workplace in promoting a positive health and safe culture
Most of the accidents and incidences which takes place in a health centre are due to the negligence of the care workers. Whenever an employee fails to perform his duty in an appropriate manner an accident takes place and hence it is very important to develop a place where workers are self-motivated and perform their duty with full care and enthusiasm.
In order to promote a positive health and care culture, all the rules and guidelines must be followed properly. This will happen only when the workers will be clear about the importance and effectiveness of the health and safety guidelines. The management also should show their confidence in the employees and the policies, so that the employees are encouraged to follow the rules. The care workers will be more enthusiastic and happy if they will have an assurance about their safety and security within the organization premises (Polgar & Thomas, 2013).
3.3 Contributions to placing the health and safety needs of individuals at the centre practice
Gibb’s reflective cycle is the model which helps on reflecting on own performance. So with the help of this cycle we will evaluate one’s own contribution to placing the health and safety needs of individuals at the centre practice.
Gibb’s reflective cycle consist of five steps. The first step is about description. At this stage all the information about the situation is collected. My role and involvement at this stage was to collect the information regarding the centre and understand the need of various policies and guidelines. I collected all the required information about the organization and submitted it to HSE. The next stage is of feeling. This is a very crucial stage as it is very difficult to understand the feelings of others. I went to the care centre and had a conversation with many of the workers and patients there in order to understand their expectations from the safety policies. It was really nice talking to them and I got to know that they all really want a good system which can ensure their safety. I got to know their feelings about the health safety policies and rules (Polgar & Thomas, 2013). The thirds stage in Gibb’s reflective cycle is evaluation. This is stage where a proper assessment of the work is done. This is the time when all the positive and negative points of the work are found. The information which I collected from the centre was good and it was very helpful for HSE.I got appreciation from the HSE management for my work. It was really nice to understand the importance of safety policies being implemented at a health and social care centre. The next stage in the cycle is conclusion. This is stage where the learning is assessed during the experience. It was a great learning experience for me, I learned a lot about the functioning of HSE and the ways in which health and safety policies can be implemented and promoted in any health and care centre. The last step is of action. With the help of information submitted by me, HSE is going to implement the required rules and guidelines at the organization, and I am going to surely use all the learnings in future at my workplace.
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Task 4
Self Evaluation
As per me the report is well organised and very well written. All the important topics, theories and methods are being covered in the report. I have used all my learning in preparing the report. All the cases which I have used in the report are completely relevant to the topic and hence very well explains the topic. I have tried to give all the relevant laws and acts related to health and safety procedures wherever required. I tried to use proper theories while writing about the care planning, risk assessment and non-compliance of the health and safety policies. It was a great experience while working as an intern at HSE. While working in HSE I got to know about the problems faced by them. Since I got a chance to visit various health care centres on behalf in HSE, I got a chance to interact with the employees and patients at the centre which made me to understand their feelings and points of view regarding the safety measures and policies. I am sure about the fact that all the learnings and experience is surely going to be helpful for me in future (Aveyard & Sharp, 2013). I found that HSE is a great place to work and it gives a holistic knowledge about the health and safety in relevant health and social care settings.
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References
Aveyard, H., & Sharp, P. (2013). A Beginner's Guide to Evidence-based Practice in Health and Social Care. McGraw-Hill International Black, A. D., Car, J., Pagliari, C., Anandan, C., Cresswell, K., Bokun, T., ... & Sheikh, A. (2011). The impact of eHealth on the quality and safety of health care: a systematic overview. PLoS medicine, 8(1), e1000387. Karsh, B. T., Holden, R. J., Alper, S. J., & Or, C. K. L. (2006). A human factors engineering paradigm for patient safety: designing to support the performance of the healthcare professional. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 15(suppl 1), i59-i65.For further help in Icon College Health and Safety at workplace Assignment click on order now.
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