Nadia Muhammad
P6 - Compare the influence of different health and safety laws or policies on health and
social care practice in a selected setting.
In this assignment, I will be identifying the influences of different health and safety legislations
that are used within a health and social care setting and explaining how they influence safe
practice. Also within this essay, I will be exploring procedures and responsibilities that help to
maintain health and safety within a health and social care setting.
Health and Safety at Work 1974
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) is a piece of legislation that covers
occupational health and safety within Great Britain. The legislation was put in place to protect
the guidelines for the employers and visitors within a workplace setting. HASAWA provides
guidelines for the employers to follow to ensure that their setting is safe for everybody. The
legislation aims to 'minimise the risk within the workplace' and to keep everybody as safe as
possible. The legislation states that risk assessments must be made to identify what the risks
are so that the employers are able to reduce them.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 have many influences on a care setting and the
setting's practice. This legislation ensures that the setting has had risk assessments and that a
safe working environment is maintained. Risk assessments are important as they 'form an
integral part of an occupational health and safety management plan'. Risk assessments help to
create awareness of any hazards and risks and to identify what needs to be done to reduce
these. A management plan would then be created as a way for staff members to know what
risks have been identified and how they are being fixed. This influence that the legislation has
on the setting would ensure that the staff, service users and visitors are a lot safer when they
are at the setting. After the risk assessments have been made and the risks have been reduced,
the staff would feel safer and their work would improve meaning that they would be able to
provide better care for the service users.
Another influence that this legislation has on a health and social care setting and the setting's
practices is that it provides confidence and reassurance for families and visitors. This means
that when the legislation is put in place within the setting, that everybody who attends the setting
would feel safer and have the confidence that nothing will happen to put them in danger. If
families and visitors were worried that there were risks and that the setting was not a safe
environment, they may decide to remove the service users from the setting. If the setting didn't
have many service users, they could be forced to shut down. However, if families and visitors
did have the reassurance and feel more confident with the safety of th3 service, the service
would keep their service users and not need to close. If the family have reassurance and
confidence that the setting is safe, that staff are more likely to think that the setting is safe so
they would provide the best care possible for the service users.
Meeting legal and regulatory requirements is another influence that Health and Safety at Work
Act 1974 has on a health and social care setting and the setting's practices. An example of a
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, Nadia Muhammad
legal requirement is to keep accurate records. These records could be about the service users
and about the staff members and about how safe everybody is. Within HASAWA, the employers
have a duty to maintain a safe environment and to report any incidents and accidents that could
affect the safety of people within the service. These records have to be accurate otherwise, the
setting would be a danger to the individuals who are within the setting. Also, if in the future
another incident happens, causing harm to somebody within the setting, the accurate records
could be used to identify if the incident has happened fore and to determine what caused the
incident.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is used within the case study about Lizzy D. The case
study states that the keypad that is used to gain entrance into the ward, is broken and that the
doors are being propped open. The risk assessment that was influenced by HASAWA would
identify that this is a risk to everyone on the ward. It is a risk because, if the door wasn't being
watched, people could walk in and out. Strangers could walk in and become a danger to the
service user who are ill and who have just come out of 'surgical procedures'. These strangers
could make the service users distressed which would stop them for healing for their procedures.
Also, having the door propped open, service users could just walk out without being discharged.
The legally required discharge papers wouldn't be signed so the ward would be at fault if the
service user came back with worse injuries.
RIDDOR
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, also known as
RIDDOR, is a legislation that 'requires employers to report and keep records of work - related
accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences of certain types'. RIDDOR 'applies to every
workplace' in the UK. It states that all employers have a legal duty to report certain serious
workplace accidents or disease. These are 4 different categories of reportable injuries that must
be reported to RIDDOR. The first category is death. If there are any deaths that occur during the
workplace, either by the service users or the staff, RIDDOR must be informed. The second
category is Major Injuries. These types of injuries include: fractures, amputations, serious burns
and loss of consciousness. The third category is Injuries That Last More Than 7 Days. If the
injury lesys more that 7 days, the individual is unable to perform their normal work duties. The
last category is Injuries to members of the Public. If somebody from the public gets hurt or is
injured while at the setting, even if the injury is not major, it still must be reported to RIDDOR.
Diseases that must be reported to RIDDOR are diseases that could be spread around the
setting to diseases that are likely to have been caused by the setting. RIDDOR aims to monitor
accident trends and investigate any serious accidents to help prevent them in the future.
RIDDOR has many influences on a health and social care setting. This legislation is put into
place to help protect individuals from accidents, injuries and illnesses. RIDDOR, after getting
reports from the service about accidents and illnesses that have happened or are happening
within the care setting, are there to show why it's happened (using previous reports and records)
and to give suggestions about how to stop it. If RIDDOR give the suggestions about how to stop
the recurring incidents, individuals within the care setting will be healthier. If the health and
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