Risk Management In Health And Social Care Essay

Health and safety is paramount in a care environment. When working with people who are reliant on us to deliver them a high quality of care, we must ensure their safety comes first at all times. There are several ways in which we can always be sure we are keeping people safe at work and this is made possible by knowing current legislation and being clear on one’s own responsibilities.

There are different roles within a care company for whom health and safety needs to be a priority. There are those of us on the front line; the care workers, those making the decisions for an individual’s care; the managers, and any visitors to the work place.

As care workers we are the people who are most likely to physically participate in high risk activities

In most cases there would likely be an investigation followed by disciplinary action where applicable. It is also important to never ignore any situation in which you witness someone else breaking a policy at work and to report it if this happens.

Managers in the workplace also have their own set of responsibilities to ensure the safety of both service users and employees. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 details what is expected of them and includes the following set of responsibilities as example;

Risk assessments- Managers have a duty to ensure risk assessments are completed for any new task before allowing employees to participate in the task. For example they must ensure a service user has the correct hoisting equipment and that this has been signed off by an occupational therapist before allowing care workers to use it, they must identify and potential risks with the activity and put in place procedures to lower these risks.

Training- Managers have a responsibility to ensure all new members of staff have completed adequate training and shown competence in shadowing before allowing them to deliver care to individuals alone. They must ensure all training is relevant and up to date and that staff complete update training where