OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

Health and Safety in the Health and Social Care Workplace

Health and Safety in the Health and Social Care Workplace

Introduction

Health and social care, in the United Kingdom is a term that relates to all the integrated services that are mainly provided by the health and social care providers. Occupational safety is important for all workplaces, but its importance enhances in case of health and social care workplace. The safety of health and social care workers plays a key role in maintaining health standards within society.

Occupational safety legislation in the health and social care workplace

Policies and procedures for implementation of health and safety in health and social sector

The United Kingdom has provided legislation for the workplace safety. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a governmental enterprise for upholding occupational protection. The mission of HSE is “Our mission is to prevent death, injury and ill health in Great Britain's workplaces.-HSE” (www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus). The organization works for the well being of British workers in their work environment. HSE supports organizations to implement safety policies for their workers.

The government has passed various acts and laws for the establishment of workplace safety. 'Health and Safety at Work Act 1974' binds the employers to take standard measures for the safety of their employees. 'Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999' encourages the practice of risk assessment and preventive actions. Besides these two acts, various laws are available for the employee's benefit.

The government makes laws and organizations make policies for the workplace safety. Individual circumstances of an organization affect the policy design. The policies are executed through a health and safety team. The responsibility of the team is to improve communication among different sectors of the institute. Health and safety advisors are a part of every business and social organization. They ensure that the institute's policies are reflective of government laws. They are responsible for practical accomplishment of the policies.

Health and safety advisors follow certain processes for implementation of healthcare. They thoroughly evaluate work practices in a health and social care setup and advise necessary changes for the employee's safety. They assess the feasibility of applying the changes to work policy. The advisors conduct training sessions for the staff to get acquainted with the safety profile. The inspectors of the team determine the risk factors and offer alternate procedures. They document all evidences for generating future practice plan.

It is advisable to display health and social care policies in the form of bulletins on notice boards. The safety plans should be easily accessible to all employees. The safety advisor team is also responsible for safe fitting of medical equipments. The health and social care setups have to dispose off hazardous materials in a harmless way. The safety policy of the institute determines the procedure for safe disposal.

Responsibilities of the management in relation to organizational structure

Healthcare organizations pay special attention to their health and safety procedures. Healthcare workers face diverse job-related perils everyday. The unique organizational structure poses different challenges to different departments. Every department in a health and social care ...