P1- Explain potential hazards in health and social care

This assignment is going to look at hazards in the working environment.

Hazards

A hazard is a source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone under certain conditions at work. A hazard has three modes: Dormant (there are no people around; there is no risk), armed (there is a person or people in the vicinity; there is risk), active (human reaction time is too slow to combat the effect of the hazard; it is too late to prevent the consequences of the hazard).

A hazard can cause harm or adverse effects (to individuals as heath effects or to organisations as property or equipment losses).

Sometimes a hazard is referred to as being the actual harm or the health affect it caused rather than the hazard. For example, the disease tuberculosis (TB) might be called a hazard by some but in general the TB-causing bacteria would be considered the hazard.

Workplace hazards can come from a wide range of sources. General examples include any substance, material, process, practice, which has the ability to cause harm or adverse health effect to a person under certain conditions.

Here are two examples of hazards:

A wet floor is a hazard; this should be shown to people by a "wet floor" sign. If a person has no idea that a floor is wet and slippery, they could fall or slip and seriously hurt themselves.

Bottles that are not labelled are hazards. A member of staff could give their patient the wrong medicine instead of the right one. This could cause serious harm to the patient.

Risks

A risk is the chance that something (usually something bad) will happen because of something else. For example, if you smoke a packet of cigarettes a day for 30 years, you have a 10 percent risk of dying from lung cancer. (www.besttreatments.co.uk)

Risk is the probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard. It may also apply to situations with property or equipment loss.

Any one who thinks they have seen a risk in the workplace, they must fill in a risk assessment form.

The relationship between hazard and risk must be treated very cautiously. If all other factors are equal - especially the exposures and the people subject to them, then the risk is proportional to the hazard. However all factors are equal.

Here is an example: Potassium Dichromate is a highly toxic carcinogenic chemical. It is used in some techniques to analyse exhaled breath for alcohol content. However for this purpose it is sealed in a tube, and does not become airborne when air is drawn over it. Therefore although it is a highly hazardous substance, its use as described, does not present any risk to the subject.

Accidents

An employer has a duty to protect their staff and tell them about health and safety issues that affect them. They also have a legal obligation to report certain accidents and incidents to the Incident Contact Centre of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). They must report:

* Death

* Major injuries (a broken arm or ribs)

* Dangerous incidents (people overcome by gas)
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* Any other injury that stops an employee from doing their normal work for more than three days

* Disease

It is important to identify the cause of accidents so that they can be prevented in future and to reduce injury, ill-health and costs to business.

In order to identify the cause of accidents it is good practice for businesses to investigate those that occur in the workplace so that preventable measures can be put in place to reduce the risk of them happening again. The more serious accidents that occur are required to ...

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