Work Experience Assignment
Vocational study
Health, safety and welfare at work
The primary legislation providing for the health and safety of people at work is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005-2007
The duties of employees under this Act:
• To protect the health and safety of themselves and of other people at the workplace.
• To report any problems in the workplace or equipment that might be a danger to health and safety.
• To undergo any reasonable medical or other assessment if requested to do so by the employer.
• To not be under the influence of drink or drugs in the workplace.
• To not promote any improper behaviour that will but anyone in the workplace at risk.
Employers have a duty to ensure their employees' health, safety
…show more content…
The assessment should be carried out before the young person is employed.
• The employer should provide protective equipment together with training on how to use it, wherever is necessary.
• The protective equipment should be provided free of charge to employees if its intended for use at the at the workplace only.
• Employees should usually be provided with their own personal equipment.
• The correct use of computers is an important health and safety consideration for employers and employees.
• All accidents in the workplace should be reported to the employer, who should record the details of the incident.
• Proper safegaurds should be put into place to eliminate the risk of violence and the employee should be provided with means of minimising the remaining risk. Equality legislation
Equality legislation is used to safegaurd against discrimination. A person is said to be discriminated against if he or she is treated differently than another is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the following grounds:
• Gender
• Civil status
• Family
…show more content…
A union can provide a important source of information and protection in relation to employment matters as well as negotiating with the employer for better pay and conditions. There are three types of unions:
• Craft unions: The skilled category
• White collar unions: Professional, office and service occupations.
• General unions: Semi-skilled and unskilled workers.
The Irish congress of trade unions (ICTU) is the main organisation for most of the bigger unions of workers in Ireland and represents employees at social talks. Pay structures and work conditions are recommended and negoitiated. A national wage agreement is generally secured for workers, such as the Haddington Road Agreement.
There is no legal obligation on an employer to negotiate with a union on behalf of an employee member unless previously agreed. This does not prevent a dispute about trade union recognition from being a lawful dispute.
Dismissal for trade unions activity or membership is automatically unfair under the Unfair Dismissal Acts 1977-2007. An employee dismissed in some circumstances does not require any length of service in the job in order to bring a case in this instance under the
Although unions may not have been directly responsible for the passing of these laws, their impact certainly brought the deplorable conditions of numerous companies into the sight of the public. In addition, unions provide and continue to provide consistent benefits for their members. The EPI expresses that union members are significantly more likely to receive health insurance from their employers, as well as pension plans and paid vacations (Walters, Mishel). Maternity and sickness leaves are also a vast improvement from the callous, uncompassionate business leadership of the past. Unquestionably, unions have improved the working situations of the everyday employee both in the past and the
OSHA protects employees from dangerous situations. Under the OSH Act, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace. OSHA 's mission is to assure safe and healthful workplaces by setting and enforcing standards, and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Employers must comply with all applicable OSHA standards. Employers must also comply with the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which requires employers to keep their workplace free of serious recognized hazards (osha.gov).
One of the main reasons people do not agree with the usage of labor unions are because they view it as a system of abuse. When they were first established in the eighteenth century they served a very valuable purpose on fixing the horrible working conditions and extremely low pay. Since this time nonunion members think that people abuse the power the union offers such as members knowing what the company can and cannot fire them for and that all the “loop holes” have been exposed to the union members. Not only do people think that the system is abused but they also believe that unions devaluate hard workers. When a contract states that there will be fair wages that means that everyone will receive the same amount of pay which means that there is no strive to do better and those who are dedicated workers lose the lack of value and motivation that they put into their work.
The National Labor Relations Act allows employees to form a union or join a preexisting union. The same act prevents employers from standing in the way of workers attempting to unionize. Many organizations frown on unionization, but regardless of their opinion, they cannot interfere with employment rights. Employers are violating the law if they threaten employee 's jobs, question union activities, or eliminate benefits for employees by unionization. They also cannot offer benefits or perks to employees for refusing to unionize, as this could be seen as illegal persuasion (Employer/Union Rights, n.d.).
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.
1. To make sure the care and treatment can continue to be given safely no matter which staff are on duty, 24 hours a day, seven days a week 2. To record the care that has been given to the patient/client 3. To make sure there is an accurate record to be used as ‘evidence’ when there is a complaint from a patient/client about the
As a service we have to comply with these regulations and by having regular meetings such as health and safety, infection control, checks being carried out such as fire compliance, having designated first aiders, file audits, medication audits, live staff observations and regular supervisions to not only provide support to staff and identify any training or support needs but also to highlight any areas that are of concern that could have a detrimental impact on our service
Its aim is to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health in all workplaces across the UK. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the enforcement body for health and safety in schools. This means that its inspectors are entitled to offer schools information and advice, warn them that they are failing to comply with the law, serve prohibition or improvement notices and prosecute. Schools are required to comply with the Health and Safety Act 1974.
All businesses have an obligation to guarantee, so far as is sensibly practicable, the wellbeing, security and welfare of their representatives. They additionally have an obligation to shield non-representatives from dangers emerging out of their work exercises". Target makes sure that they give practicable and health and safety at work to their
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is one of the most popular legislations found in a health and social care setting. HASAWA 1974 or otherwise known as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is a legislation that applies to Great Britain as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Business find themselves pushed into a corner when unionization is introduced within the limitations of their business structure, not every organization is faced with unionization, but those that do have to find ways to limit the exposure that will lead to limited production, increase in prices, and increase in employee associated issues. These issues steam from higher wages, working conditions and offered benefits. When unions are introduced or organized, workers have several tactics that are very successful at getting organizations to sit at the table and work out new arrangements to improve employee wages, and benefits. The tactics used in most cases are strikes, these strikes are instigated by the unions and carried out by the employees
According to Fossum Labor structure has three levels of unions: National level, local level and labor federations. Unions were formed to assist workers from being misused and abused by their boss, to assist them with a better standard of living and to give them a voice in the labor market. Unions were also given the rights to negotiate agreements and to bargain for their members. National unions were given such authorities of approval and veto power, and they should still retain said power. (Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining, n.d. p.1)
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.
Further to the use of ICT’s we must take into account legal considerations regarding their impact on health & social care. Referring to the legal considerations of health & safety, we must firstly understand the ‘Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment DSE) Regulations 1992’. DSE within the workplace involves the use of devices or equipment that has a graphic display such as laptops and touch screens. It applies to employees who spend most of their work day using these devices, essentially continuous periods of an hour or more. In particular DSE works with health & safety monitoring the risks some individuals may experience such as fatigue, eye strain, upper limb problems and backache from extensive use of DSE and well as improper work
Trade unions may also provide legal advice, financial assistance, sickness benefits and education facilities to their members. Trade union membership has been decline across the industrialized market economies in recent years. Decline in membership is due to largely to common developments such as a decline in employment in traditionally manufacturing industry and the growth of service employment and increasing levels of employment. The trade union’s main aim is to protect and advance the interest of its members in the workplace.