These incidents that have to be recorded can be minor, and just need basic first aid, or can be extreme, causing death. The person in charge of recording these incidents will have to say how, where, and why it happened. They can then advise on how to minimise the risk.
In the Doctor’s surgery, RIDDOR would require the receptionists to record any accidents that happen in the waiting room or the corridors leading up to the doctor’s offices.
Manual Handling Operations Regulations:
This act makes it clear that employees should avoid manual handling operations unless necessary. Every manual handling operation should be planned and assessed, risks minimised (for example the risk of injury is minimised by training employees on how to properly lift and move heavy objects.)
This regulation is the responsibility of the employer, to provide training and the employees/workers doing the manual handling to follow the training and guidelines that they have been given to safely lift/move objects without injuring themselves.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations promote the safety of the employee because it is minimising risks of the person performing the lift/move of injuring themselves.
In the Doctor’s surgery the only people who would need to do manual handling operations is when people come in to help with deliveries. These people are specially trained in manual handling so they do all the lifting and moving. They are guided by their company on how to comply with RIDDOR regulations and it is their responsibility to stick to these guidelines.
Care Homes Regulations:
This act promotes the safety of individuals visiting, working in, or living in care homes in the UK, because all managers must have a qualification in leadership and management in care services. This means that the service users and employees can feel confident that the manager meets the required standards and has all the training needed to produce quality care and service in the care home.
The checks performed of the standards in care homes have to reach minimum requirements, which give the service users reassurance that the care they are receiving is of a good quality and meets regulation standards.
The employer must complete a risk assessment of the premises and ensure all hazards and risks are minimised. If anything does happen that endangers the safety of a service user, it is the employer or manager’s responsibility to report it to the Care Quality Commissions.
It is the employer’s responsibility that these standards are met by the employees by providing them with training and resources to meet these standards. It is then the employees’ responsibilities to follow these regulations and ensure they are adhering to guidelines and training they are given, to keep the care home’s quality of care good.
This regulation is not relevant for my setting, a doctor’s surgery.
COSHH:
Employers must assess risks associated with any hazardous substances that are present on the premises. They must put into place control measures to prevent and control these hazards, and ensure that these control measures and being followed by employees. It is the employees’ responsibility to ensure they are following the procedures properly. Employers must also put plans in place to deal with emergencies and accidents in case anything does happen.
This act promotes the safety of employees who are using the hazardous substances, and also protects service users and visitors who may come into contact with these hazardous substances.
In the doctor’s surgery there is a cleaning cupboard in the waiting room. After doing my risk assessment, under COSHH guidelines this cupboard needs to have a lock installed so that it isn’t accessible by the people in the waiting room, as it has harmful substances in it like bleach and other chemicals.
The employees in the doctor’s surgery who use these chemicals will have had training on how to properly use these chemicals so as not to harm themselves with them.
Food Safety Act:
The Food Safety Act regulations make the people selling/providing food legally responsible for providing food that is of high quality, is not a hazard to health to eat, and is prepared according to food hygiene guidelines.
It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure all employees have the required training, for example food hygiene certificates, and the resources needed to ensure the food is kept hazard free. It is then the employees’ responsibility to ensure they follow guidelines and prepare food properly.
This act can give service users the confidence that the food they are being served is of good quality and won’t make them unwell, as the people providing the food are legally obliged by legislation to produce non-hazardous food.
In the doctor’s surgery, food is not served so this would not apply.
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006:
The vetting and barring scheme is a policy which enables the employer to perform a background check on people before employing them to work with children or vulnerable adults, called a DBS (disclosure and barring service) check (formerly CRB check).
This scheme was put in place by the Independent Safeguarding Authority and it enables people to be barred from certain types of work, such as working with children or working with adults with learning disabilities, if they have a criminal history that may put these types of people’s safety or lives at risk.
It is the employer’s responsibility to get this check performed, and the person who is applying for the work to not apply for jobs they know they are barred from, s it is an offense to work or apply for work if you are previously convicted of something that puts the types of people you will be working with at risk.
This act promotes the safety of the vulnerable people because it ensures a full background check on people who may put people’s safety at risk, so the service users can feel confident that the people working with them have no criminal convictions and that their safety is secured.
In a doctor’s surgery, the staff would come across all sorts of vulnerable people, meaning they would all have to be DBS checked before they could start working there. This ensures the safety of all patients and/or visitors to the surgery
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ellyharvey98gmailcom (student)
