HEALTHCARE

The Impact of Health and Safety Requirements

The Impact of Health and Safety Requirements

Risk Assessment & Care Planning

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is a systematic process of assessing work activities, considering anything that could go wrong, and deciding on appropriate control initiatives for preventing loss, injury, or damage in the workplace (Healthy Working Lives, 2012, n.d). Risk assessment basically involves three major categories: identifying hazards, evaluating or analyzing the risk these hazards posses, and determining suitable means to control or eliminate the hazards (CCOHS, 2006, n.d). Hence, a risk assessment includes thorough look at the workplace for identifying the situations, things, processes, and others that can cause harm, specifically to workers. After identifying those things, it involves evaluating their associated risk's severity and likelihood, and then finally it determines what initiatives must be taken to control or prevent harm from happening.

Importance of Risk Assessment Categories

The categories involve in risk assessment hold immense importance as they form an integral part of an effective occupational health and safety management plan. The categories included in risk assessment help to create awareness of the possible hazards and risks, determine who may be at risk (such as visitors, employees, cleaners, contractors, and others), assess the effectiveness and adequacy of existing control and the need of more effective measure, prevent illness or injury when risk assessment is done at design or planning stage, and prioritize measures of control and hazards (CCOHS, 2006, n.d).

Risk Assessment & Service Users Care Planning

The risk assessment approach also asks for ensuring the involvement of service users as much as they can in their own risk assessment process. In risk assessment process some involvement of service users is always possible, whether the service users contribute fully or participate to a small aspect of their risk assessment (Lee, et al, 2008, p.4). Therefore, the assessment also informs the service users, done by competent team of individuals consisting sound working knowledge of the workplace. Further, it also involves the staffs (workers and supervisors) who work with the process under review since they are the most familiar with the operation (CCOHS, 2006, n.d).

Affect on Policy & Procedure

Risk assessment impacts highly on policies and procedures of a workplace, as it ensures the development of policies and measures with respect to the health and safety requirement assessed. Risk assessment also helps in policy making by making sure that new changes at the workplace do not introduce new hazards or change hazards that were previously ranked as lower priority to a higher priority (CCOHS, 2006, n.d). Thus, risk assessment provides the effective measures of control and prevention of any hazards at workplace, and therefore facilitates the development of policies and procedures of the organization.

Health and Safety Policy

Lone working Policy

Lone working policy states that in case the conditions of service delivery or its related tasks need a lone worker (staff working alone), the line manager as well as an individual staff member have a duty to evaluate and decrease the risks presented by lone working (LC, 2011, ...