UNIT 4 Demonstrate knowledge of developing health and safety and risk
management policies, procedures and practices in health and social care
1. Health and Safety is a legal requirement which is monitored by the
Health & Safety Executive and applies to ALL social care environments. A
manager has a responsibility to ensure that there are adequate policies,
procedures and practices put in place for the safety of everyone. Any
breaches of health and safety can have serious consequences. It is
important to take all reasonable measures and to meet the legal
requirements to keep individuals, service-users, staff and visitors to the
service safe. These duties are set out by the Health and Safety at Work
Act 1974, which was imposed following the ‘Aberfan Disaster’ in Wales,
where an entire school was buried by coal slag because measures were
not taken to protect the school. The Act states that you have to protect
the safety of others so far is reasonably practicable. The Management of
Health and Safety at Work Regulations are more detailed and apply to
every work activity. Everything that you do at work should be risk
assessed which forms the basis of our policies and procedures. The
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 applies to any employer with five or
more staff. It is important that we understand the legislation and how it
links to our own policies and procedures. The legislative framework
involves the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Management of Health
and safety at Work Regulations 1999 (amended 2003), Personal
Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, Provision and Use of
Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Manual Handling Operating
Regulations 1992, Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, Health
and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989, RIDDOR
(Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations
1995, Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, COSHH (Control of
Substances Hazardous to Health) Regulations 2002, Food Safety Act
1990 and Food Hygiene Regulations 2006, Regulatory Reform (Fire
Safety) 2005 and the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, Workplace
(Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, Disability Discrimination
Act 1995, Data Protection Act 1998. The Review Assessment policy
supports the values of the homes including risk management and
effective care (QCS System Resources), the Review of Care/Support
, policy supports the values of the service and care reviews, the Risk
Taking Policy supports service-users to take responsible risks, the Risk
Assessment Policy purpose is to comply with statutes, regulations and
quality standards and the Security Policy which ensures the security of
service-users and employees. All these legislations have to be complied
with in order to operate in a safe environment and to protect everyone
in the workplace.
2. As a regulated service, we are subject to the CQC Essential Standards of
Quality and Safety which has an impact on our service delivery and our
practice and it is very important that our policies and procedures reflect
this in order to achieve our positive outcomes. For example, with the
Manual Handling Regulations 1992, we have a Risk Assessment Policy,
Manual Handling Policy, Moving and Handling Policy and Health and
Safety Policy which all correlate to each other. This means that we have
in place a risk assessment, appropriate training and appropriate
equipment which are regularly maintained. Monthly reviews are in place
to monitor, audits for training, spot checks carried out, monthly health
and safety audits which also cover equipment and regular supervisions
in place. At my practice we carry out weekly health and safety checks.
This allows us to comply with Health and Safety at Work Regulations and
legislation and meet the requirements and to keep everyone safe. We
regularly assess our quality of service provision and ways to improve our
service. Our induction plan covers all health and safety policies for new
staff and we are vigilant that these are understood and carried out
appropriately along with record keeping and auditing. Our policies
describe how we manage a certain aspect of our work and what we
need to do in order to achieve it. As a whole, health and safety is
everyone’s responsibility as your actions and the actions of others can
be detrimental and may cause harm. Our policies and procedures allow
us to have a plan for risk assessments and what to do in an emergency
situation such as what emergency measures to take, who to inform,
where to record etc. it is important that we are trained to meet our
policy standards in order to carry out our duties effectively and
efficiently. Our health and safety policies are very descriptive and inform
us of how to carry out the task accurately and step-by-step approach so
