Describe how key legislation in relation to health, safety and security influences health and social care delivery

Health and Safety

P2 – Describe how key legislation in relation to health, safety and security influences health and social care delivery

In this assignment I am going to describe how key legislation in relation to health, safety and security influences health and social care delivery. Key legislation is the name given to the main laws to do with health and safety.

Legislation is defined as “a law or group of laws”.

Stretch. Beryl. (2007). BTEC National Health and social care book 1.

The main piece of legislation in relation to health and safety is ‘The health and safety at Work Act’ which was first implemented in 1974. It is also referred to as the HASAWA or HSW. It is the primary piece of legislation covering all aspects of occupational health and safety within the United Kingdom. The Health and Safety at Work Act is an enabling act and has brought about significant improvements in health and safety in the workplace. Before the implementation of this particular legislation, the UK had one of the lowest accident rates in the world. Even though, the legislation has made noticeable improvements, they are still over “200 people killed each year at work in the United Kingdom, and over 150,000 are injured.” Stretch. Beryl. (2007). BTEC National Health and social care book 1.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was implemented in order to set out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other. It was mainly needed to; cover all workers within the work place, deal with fast changing technology, deal with major hazards and address the accident rate.

The act follows a principle of ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’. This means that the employer does not have to take any kind of measures to either avoid or reduce the risk if it is technically impossible, and are in any kind of doubt of putting themselves at high risk by taking the measures in hand. This basically means that if the risks outweigh the measures still, then nothing should be carried out. It would take only common sense for an employer to assess how much of a risk something was before they began to minimise it, and to take sensible measures to tackle them.

Section 1 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 explains further that the act was implemented in order to;

To secure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work
To protect other people from hazards arising from work
To control the keeping and use of dangerous substances and materials, including explosives and highly flammable materials
To control the emission of noxious substances from certain premises

The Act also secures the health, safety and welfare of people whilst they are in a working environment. It also outlines that other people ...

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Section 1 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 explains further that the act was implemented in order to;

To secure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work
To protect other people from hazards arising from work
To control the keeping and use of dangerous substances and materials, including explosives and highly flammable materials
To control the emission of noxious substances from certain premises

The Act also secures the health, safety and welfare of people whilst they are in a working environment. It also outlines that other people must be protected against risks to health and safety which arise from the activity of people at work. The act therefore imposes general duties on everybody connected with work – not just the employers.

The act states that;

Within section 2 of the HASAWA it states that, in order for the employers to comply with the Act. They must:

To ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare at work of employees
To provide so fair as is reasonably practicable machinery, equipment and plant that is safe
To ensure that systems of work are safe
To provide training and information
To maintain any place under their control in a safe condition.

Within section 7 of the HASAWA it states that employees have specific responsibilities too:

Take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and others who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work.
To co-operate with his employer or any other person, so far as is necessary, to enable his employer or other person to perform or comply with any requirement or duty imposed under a relevant statutory provision.

There are several areas under the HASAWA which are covered by specific regulations. These additional regulations have been added in order to reflect changes in practice, technology and understanding. Some of these regulations included within the Health and Safety at Work Act are;

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR)
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH)

Regulation is defined as; “A principle, rule, or law designed to control or govern behaviour.”

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

This regulation first came into effect in 1992. Since then amendments have been made and the last modification took place on 29 December 1999. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations outlines what is expected of employers in order to meet the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The main requirement of employers is to carry out risk assessments.

A risk assessment is defined as;

“The overall process of all the risks to and from an , and the of each risk.”

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/riskassessment

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, it is the responsibility of the employer to:

Avoid risks an evaluate risks that cannot be avoided (carry out a risk assessment)
Ensure that as far as is reasonably practicable that risks do not exist
Adapt work to the individual and to technical processes
Replace dangerous items, etc, with those that are less dangerous
Develop a coherent overall prevention policy, covering technology, organisation of work, working conditions etc.
Give collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures
Give appropriate instructions to employees.
Appoint competent people to help them to implement arrangements.

This regulation is one of the most important covered by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 came into force under the HASAWA on 1 January 1993. “It enabled UK legislation to implement a European Community directive on the manual handling of loads.”

Stretch. Beryl. (2007). BTEC National Health and social care book 1.

The regulation places duties on both employers, and employees, to make sure that any risks are minimised when lifting, moving or handling people or objects.

The main requirements under these regulations are:

To avoid manual handling operations which involve a risk of injury, as far as is reasonably practicable.
Assess all manual handling operations which cannot be avoided.
Take steps to reduce the risk of injury during those operations that cannot be avoided.

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR)

This regulation was put in place so that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are able to identify why, where and how risks occur within the work place. This can therefore help organisations determine how they could prevent or reduce injury. The following must by law, be reported to the HSE:

Death or major injury
An incident leading to someone being absent from work for three or more days
Reportable diseases
Potentially dangerous occurrences that did not lead to injury or disease.

It is very important that these are reported to the Health and Safety Executive as they can assess the incident and reduce or take away any risks which could lead to future dangerous occurrences.

“Our mission (HSE) is to protect people’s health and safety by ensuring risks in the changing workplace are properly controlled.”

www.hse.gov.uk

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH)

This regulation was first introduced in 1998 but have been modified several times. It requires employers to control and hazardous substances within the work place which employees and others could be exposed to during work. A hazardous substance is any product used in the workplace which may be a risk to an individuals health if they are not controlled.

It is an employers responsibility within the workplace to take all reasonable steps to ensure that they use control measures appropriately and report and defects. E.g. they could make the employees wear protective clothing to avoid too much exposure to the products.

COSHH requires employers to:

Assess the risks posed by hazardous substances such as body fluids and sharps
Devise and implement precautions to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances
Ensure procedures are followed
Carry out health surveillance to identify early signs of disease
Prepare plans to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies
Ensure staff are adequately trained and supervised.

Conclusion