How policies and procedures promote health, safety and security in a health and social care setting Essay

The employer’s position is to supervise the health, security and safety of all the staff, visitors, volunteers to the grounds of the building and also its service users. Employers may assign accountability for health and safety to the employees, health and safety agents, administrators and the service users as well. But, it is still the employer’s job to have supreme accountability for health and safety . Another of the employer’s roles is to make sure that all of the staff that is working under the employer is CRB checked. For under the Independent Safeguarding Authority’s’ (ISA) Vetting and Barring Scheme all staff also including any volunteers that work with people that are vulnerable have to be CRB checked. The reason for this is to make sure that the staff or volunteers are appropriate for the part that they are applying for and have not beforehand injured a child or a vulnerable adult or put then in danger of injury. It is a criminal offence for a person that is barred by the ISA to apply to work or work, with vulnerable adults or to work with children. It is also the employer’s role to reduce the risk of abuse and the way that the employer does this is by the CRB checks because it stops or reduces the chance of the staff harming the service users. Another way that the employer could stop this is by training the staff so that they will work better and so (for instance) not to be tempted to abuse a service user because the staff member is angry. The employer should also monitor the staff so that they are not doing things that they should not be doing. The ways that the employer can monitor the staff can be by monitoring the staff’s phone calls, their computers and also their accounts to see if they are doing things that they should not be doing and which could harm the service users . It is also the employer’s role to report abuse from the employees to the police The Employers responsibilities The Employers are accountable for the health and safety of employees, any visiting workers from other institutes and also visitors when they are on the grounds of the building. There are legal and organisational requirements that they have to abide by to keep people safe. In an organisation an individual will be selected to supervise health and safety for the employer. Who to make sure that they can do this say that it is vital that the person selected to supervise health and safety has to have or is keen to start a Health and Safety at Work qualification. This will obtain for the person a detailed understanding of legislation and also how to succeed in health and safety in the place of work. This will make the individuals will have a bigger chance of being safe . Records have to be maintained of all incidents and accidents as after an occurrence, the employer has a duty to evaluate the settings policies and procedures and reflect on whether the reason the occurrence was because of a fault in the system. This will stop the same hazard from happening again and also to see who is at fault for if an employee is badly hurt, because of a fault in the system, recompense would be required to be paid to the person hurt for any charges gained or loss of salary consequently because of the damage. This is why an employer should make sure that the place of work is entirely insured. The â€Å"Employers Public Liability Insurance and Compulsory Liability Insurance† is what will have to be taken out . The employer has to foresee any hazards and put into position dealings to decrease these risks from happening. To do this they do a risk assessment. This is when they observe a service user doing something and then decide the possible dangers that there are and how to overcome these dangers. ( This job can be given to suitable employees) For example, they could observe manual handling, where the capability of a service user to move themselves, possibly from their chair to their bed, will be viewed by the employer, and the best appropriate gear recognized to reduce the danger of the service user falling or acquiring uncomfortable skin from the abrasion . The employer has to make sure that the setting has health and safety procedures and policies written specifically for it. Which the employer has to check frequently to certify that the procedures and policies are keeping staff, service users and visitors safe from coming to any harm. The employer also has to put on training sessions for staff. All the staff ought to be given health and safety training in the first week of have being employed, to make sure that they will know what to do in the case of any immediate hazards to a person’s health and safety. The employer should ensure that any staffs do not manually handle any service users minus the proper training. This will ensure that that people do not pose a risk to another person because they do not have the knowledge to deal with the problem. The employer is also accountable for making sure that hazardous waste is got rid of properly, this means that it is put into specialist containers and then be put into lockable bins outside the building where certain members of staff can put the waste when the specialist containers are filled. The local council or a specialist private company will pick up these containers. This is all done to stop the spread of infection. The employer must also provide safety equipment like throwaway protective aprons and gloves for the staff to get rid of and transport the bodily waste. It is also the employer’s duty to make sure that all the staff is appropriate or fit for the job. Under the Department of Health’s Protection of Vulnerable Adults order all staff working in care homes, adult placement and domiciliary care has to be CRB checked against the Department of Health’s Protection of Vulnerable Adults list, to check if they have before injured a vulnerable adult or placed a vulnerable adult at risk of any harm. It is furthermore the duty of the employer to foresee danger or harm to a person and to install ways to decrease a risk occurring . Employers have to make a fire evacuation plan in case of any fires to ensure that the people the setting are safe and that they know what to do. To achieve this the employer have to make sure that fire evacuation regulations are on display so that everyone can see then and will know what to do in cause of an emergency so that they can get out as quickly as possible. The employer ought to make a member of staff a fire chief who trains all new staff on the evacuation design. The employees in charge of the evacuation plan have to have a comprehensive evacuation map and have precise information on evacuation as they are probably going to be the last persons who are left in the construction. There must also be evacuation actions, fire principles and fire exits in place. There furthermore should be routine fire drills. Employers have to make available suitable accommodations to preserve personal sanitation and have the kitchens designed suitably to evade contamination from other food supplies. This will stop/hinder the spread of infection. The employer has to keep a safe atmosphere for the staff and theservices users and have to track abuse and violence against employees and other professionals. They have to certify the safety of prescription medications and other supplies. Employers return to assessments yearly and proceed to confirm control procedures are in home. Employee’s roles in a care setting Employees also have the responsibility to keep safe themselves, their co-workers, service users and visitors from injury. It is the role of the employees to keep themselves, their colleagues, visitors and service users safe from harm. There are legal and organisational requirements that they have to abide by to keep people safe. The Employees responsibilities Employees must follow organisational policies and procedures otherwise the money financed in health and safety by the employers will be irrelevant. Also Employees will not be able to claim compensation if they have an accident or incident because they were not following procedures. So an employer has to use the equipment given, be present at the training sessions, and follow all the guidance that is there for their safety. This will ensure that they are safe and the people under there care are as well. All the employees have to sign in and out of the workplace so that it is known whether or not they are in the building. Employees have to be careful that everyone who entering the building has a genuine reason for being there. Employees must always ask who the person is and why they are there and who there are to visit. An employee should know what to do if a visitor arrives who is not allowed access to a certain service user . An employee must recognize hazardous circumstances and must not ignore it. For instance, a spillage might cause a person to slip and fall, or if it is a hazardous material, it might cause an infection to spread. An employee must report the spillage and put up a sign warning people. Any Items that will obstruct fire exits or will produce a tripping risk must always be moved and put away. And any defective equipment should be reported, so that accidents may be avoided in the future and also so that maintenance can be done on the faulty equipment. As an employer you have to shut and lock any external doors that have been left open or unlocked, and then check why/what it was open for. This will stop strangers getting in and children or patients with problems (like dementia) getting out. As an employee it is vital that you use and store supplies and gear as stated by the producer’s instructions, policy, guidance and legislation. An employee has to make sure that any dangerous materials are stored away in a suitable place when people do not use them. For instance, combustible ingredients have to be kept away from a heat supply. Staff that are in charge for medication have to make sure that the cupboard where the drugs are kept is locked and that the trolley with the drugs on is locked also to the wall when not in use. Also employees have to make sure that the distributing of medication is recorded so that if someone steals any it will be found out quicker as there will be inconsistencies. And furthermore employees have to make sure the temperature where the medication is stored is reserved at the right temperature as the wrong temperature can change the nature of the medication making it poisonous to the patient. When service users do their own medication it has to be unreachable for the other residents. Some groups give the service users a key to a little drug cabinet which will be in their room. This is all done to stop others from gaining access to the person’s drugs. All medical stocks, like needles and syringes, have to be locked away. Certain substances might be required to be kept in a refrigerator, like liquid drugs. Neatness is vital when you are working in a care setting, as it will stop people tripping and falling over but also so that objects may be found rapidly in an urgent circumstance. Furthermore dry things have to be stored in a place that does not contain any moisture as this will make them unusable. It is moreover an employee’s duty to inform of every threat that they recognize. They should not leave is so that someone else can deal with it. Employees have to uphold hygiene in their work place this is very important as it is very easy to get ill and pass on infections through food so to prevent this, employees have to cook food at the right temperature to stop the food being undercooked to throw away food when it pass its use by date, to wear personal protective gear to stop infection increasing/spreading and using separate knives and cutting boards for vegetables, fish and meat. Lone workers still have to abide by rules and regulations to keep themselves safe and the people that they work for. Lone worker have to comply by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 which state that lone workers have to recognize dangers of the work that they are doing and Measure the hazards encompassed and furthermore they must put in place actions to gauge and limit these hazards . Sources: Health and Safety book 1