2. Literature Review
Introduction
Doyle (2013) describes the hospital working environment as complex and demanding with the ability to pose significant risks to staff safety. He goes on to say that the impact of poor occupational health and safety management does not only affect staff, but may also impact the patients they are treating. The Bureau of Labour Statistics (2011) published that the likelihood of injury or illness resulting in days away from work is higher in U.S based hospitals than in the construction and manufacturing industry, although these two industries have been traditionally thought to be relatively hazardous. With this in mind, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (2013) contends that implementing safety
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Evaluating Safety Management in hospitals
5. Best practices and examples
The Purpose of Occupational Safety and Health Legislation
The Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Division (MOLSMED) (n.d.) of Trinidad and Tobago describes the Occupational Safety and Health Act 3, 2004 as amended in 2006 as the legislation which provides a revised and extended legal guideline concerning the safety, health and welfare of persons at work. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (2004) caters to most workers with the exception of domestic workers and covers all facets of work undertaken in an industrial establishment which includes shops, factories, offices, places of work or other premises with the exclusion of residential premises.
The Ontario Ministry of Labour (2013) holds the view that Occupational Safety and Health aims to safeguard workers from health and safety hazards which they may encounter in their work environment. This ministry further explains that the pursuit of the fulfilment of this purpose is outlined in the Occupational Safety and Health legislation by:
• the establishment of duties for all workplace parties
• the definition of the right of all employees regarding issues of health and safety
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Safety should be highly prioritised, goals and objectives must be established, sufficient resources and support must be allocated and managers’ attitude to safety should be exemplified.
Employees must understand what is required of them in the safety management system and what they must do to effectively fulfil these requirements. Additionally, an open system of communication is encouraged between management and employees regarding safety and concerns.
Risk assessment must be conducted periodically to detect new or emerging hazards and validate the success of existing controls. Thereafter, monitored controls must be implemented to mitigate hazards.
All employees must undergo training to understand how to carry out their duties in alignment with the safety management system. Further, all employees should be trained to identify workplace hazards and how a analogous response should be effected.
Finally, the performance of the safety management system must be monitored by established programs which should reveal deficiencies and opportunities for improvement, and necessary actions should be taken to improve the safety management system. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2013)
Best Practises and Examples: A demonstration of the application of the
Under work health and safety laws workers and other people at our workplace must take reasonable care that they do not adversely affect
In order for the future of health care to change, changes must begin at the top with stakeholders, the hierarchy and nursing management, nurses as leaders within their organizations. According to Disch J. (2008), nurses as leaders within their organizations need to also step forward, CNEs have the background, perspective, and platform to help their organizations seriously tackle safety issues that jeopardize patient care and that face nurses and their colleagues daily, and are the essential building blocks of all health systems--and
- Safety provi¬sions are interpreted to protect patients from illnesses caused in the course of medical treatment as well as to provide hygienic and injury-free experience in the health care setting. Special provisions exist for safety in pharmaceuticals, blood supply, infectious disease treatment and diagnostics, and mental health services, among others. Ethical codes for doctors, nurses, and other health care workers contain provisions applicable to the patients’ right to safety. Medical errors and other actions that fail to meet safety standards can carry civil, criminal and administrative penalties
7 / D.P7: Explain how different procedures maintain health and safety in a selected health or social care setting Maintaining health and safety in health and social care is extremely important to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all their service users as well as other individuals service providers may come in contact with in the setting. There are several procedures that help to maintain this health and safety however they can all vary between settings for example, health and safety procedures will be slightly different and more focused on certain areas in hospitals and especially in paediatric ward compared to in drop-in centres where the needs and risk to service users are slightly different. Some of the procedures used in health and social care to maintain health and safety include; infection control and prevention, safe moving and handling of equipment and individuals, food preparation and storage, storage and administration of medication and storage and disposal of hazardous substances.
• Provide a workplace free from recognized hazards • Provide and use means to make your workplace safe • Prohibit employees from entering, or being in, any workplace that is not safe • Prohibit alcohol and narcotics from your workplace • Prohibit employees from using tools and equipment that are not safe • Establish, supervise, and enforce rules that lead to a safe and healthy work environment • Control chemical agents • Protect employees from biological agents
Occupational Health is an area of medicine which concentrates on work-related illness, the effects of work on health and the effects of health on work. Occupational Health seeks to promote positive health whilst working and, in many cases, whilst studying and undergoing work placements. Occupational Health is important as the provision ensures that staff and students undergo appropriate assessments and examinations to ensure that they are not risking their own health, nor the health of their service
Health and safety legislation applies rules to persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). A key part of legislation is to make these people officers and apply rules towards these individual’s duty of care. They cannot opt out of this responsibility. In short, duty of care refers to a work environment being safe and secure. Legislative documents include the regulations, which are specific documents giving information provided under the Work Health Safety Act.
The aim of this Act was to ensure welfare, health and safety of employees and other people who are visitors on the work premises. It also makes sure the safety of keeping and using of any substance that is hazardous, explosive or flammable and can endanger the life of employees or people present on the workplace premises. The Act outlined the general duties of employers to their employees and to any other person that enters the premises. It comply employers with documentation and reporting any injuries, accidents and diseases at work. It also enlisted employees’ responsibilities towards their own health and safety and towards each other (Elizabeth Rasheed, 2010), (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974: An Overview,
Task 2 7 / C.P6: Compare the influence of different health and safety laws or policies on health and social care practice in a selected setting There are several different health and safety laws and policies that vary between settings in health and social care aimed towards different legislations that must be followed, and have resulted in improvements in health and social care practice. It is important that these legislations are followed by service providers in order for them to promote safe practice and to fully understand their responsibilities under these legislations. Some of the legislations include the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974, the Data Protection Act 1998, the Care Act 2014, the Care Standards Act 2000 and the Equality Act 2010.
Q 3 Describe the agreed ways of working for health and safety, including the key points of policies and procedures. Employer?s have a legal duty to provide a safe working place. They do this by: ? Having in place environment and organisational risk assessments in
The Occupational Safety Health Act helped create safety codes that all businesses must follow. These codes helped prevent deaths and injuries. The Occupational Safety Health Act states that in order for a job to pass inspection, it must have clear routes to all exits, several working fire exits, unlocked doors during working hours, firefighting equipment that everyone knows how to use, fire sprinklers, and a fire evacuation plan in event of fire (Lange 84). These regulations all help prevent chaos during fires because it allows for easy access to exits in an emergency, and it gives an opportunity to stop the fire before it becomes out of control. Not only did the Occupational Safety Health Act provide safety codes, but it also deals with on the job injuries, illness, and deaths (Lange 84).
The concern for safety has become a bigger and more important issue, and these two departments are forming a relationship. Although it has been the tradition for these two departments to work separately, they both have a common goal, to oversee the safety and excellence in healthcare organizations. Some smaller organizations have always had the same person control quality and risk and remained successful. These days, we are seeing a lot more collaborations, goal sharing, ad idea exchanging among these two groups (Perry, 2007). Risk management is critical to every organization.
Assignment: Outline how legislation, policies and procedures relating to health, safety and security influence health and social care settings. Go on to describe how those legislation, policies and procedures promote the safety of individuals in your health or social care setting. Policies, procedures and legislation are found in every establishment. They are required to have them in place in order to protect and keep the employers, employees and service users safe. Legislations in an establishment are a groups of laws set by the government that must be followed otherwise an individual will be prosecuted.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 These Act inform practices that all staff the responsibility to keep themselves and other around them safe through their actions at work and they must to report any health and safety problems. Also, all staff must to follow policies and procedure when hand handing equipment and they should to work in way that puts other around them in danger. Control of substances and Hazardous to Health Regulations 1992 These regulations inform practices that cleaning materials must to be kept in a locked cupboard. Also, these regulation state that disposable gloves and aprons must to be provided for cleaning and handing chemicals.
Introduction There are many factors which shape health and safety at work and safety culture is one of them. The purpose of this paper is to explore that factors surround safety culture in an organization. Safety culture can be define as internal and external factors which may impact an organisation negatively or positively. Some of those impact can be influence by management commitment, communication, production service demand, competence and employee representative Hughes and Ferrett, (2009).These internal factors can be portrayed differently in business and organisation because of their agenda-setting. Reason for this is that every company has what it would like to accomplish on a daily basis and some of those internal factors can influence the