The hospital has to carry out annually inspection for all portable electrical appliances and staff are to be trained and aware of the potential risks for electrical hazards. This policy helps the employees to avoid risks associated with electricity. This can be very important policy in a hospital because if electrical equipment was not properly checked, an incident would happen when for example life saving equipment was needed to save a patient and it was faulty it could seriously harm the user as well as resulting in the patient dying because of electrical fault.
Food Safety Act 1990 Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995
Any care setting that provides food must ensure that food is safely prepared and provides a well balanced diet. Also the food must be prepared by a qualify person.
They should have a food safety management and control systems and hazard analysis to ensure the food hygiene and safety standards are met. To reduce cross contamination, all kitchens must use colour coded chopping boards, spatulas and anything used for the preparation of food - green are for Vegetables & Fruit, Yellow for Raw Poultry, Red for Raw Meats like Pork & Beef and Blue for Raw Seafood and must be stored in different areas for instance in the refrigerator, food can only be stored in refrigerator designated for food and medication needing refrigeration and samples such as blood must be stored in designated fridge’s separate from food.
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
All settings must have a risk assessment on manual handling, and make sure that employees are aware of the risks. All staff must have manual handling training and make sure that the demands of their job do not exceed their abilities to carry out work without risk themselves and others.
All staff will have manual handling training every year so they know the right way to manual handling either objects, such as hoist, trolley, chair or patients and they will not cause harm or injury to themselves and others.
The policy helps to promote a safer handling environment that will hopefully avoid long-term back injuries and also ensures all staff are competent in patient manual handling and that they carry out manual handling in a way that enhances the independence of a patient and offers dignity and respect.
Data Protection Act 1998
All work places should have a confidentiality policy to protect its clients/staff and meet the requirement of data protection Act 1998. Data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected. Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the of the individual whom it is about. An example of this could be if a relative of a patient has asked for information about them, if the patient has not given permission then anyone involved in the care of that patient cannot discuss this type of information.
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002
Any care setting should protect its employees and others who could be exposed to risks from the use of hazardous substances. Clear guideline and procedures on handling controlling hazardous substances should be given to employees.
- The employees should wear and change white plastic aprons, gloves between jobs/patients especially after handling bodily waste and attending incontinent patients in order to prevent cross infection. Also hands must be washed thoroughly before and after using gloves. This policy help to protect both employees and patients.
- Equipment, bath tub, tables, chairs, floors should be cleaned by disinfectant cleaning solutions regularly and by following this policy, the environment will be safe from cross infection for both employees and patients.
- Linen or cloths from residents with or suspected to be suffering from infections, e.g. Hepatitis, notifiable diseases, MRSA, etc should put in a red bag and washed separately so that everyone will be safe from infections.
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Staff are trained in the use, handling and storage of all products. This policy helps to prevent the spillages of hazardous chemicals and bodily fluids and gives a healthy and safe working environment. This includes cleaning staff, who maybe using cleaning products which can cause harm such as bleach, which can burn the skin. This protects not only the service providers but also the service users.
All clinical waste must be disposed of in the correct way. Under UK laws all workplaces that generate clinical waste must follow strict guidelines set out when disposing of their clinical waste. Clinical waste is divided into 5 groups:
Group A –identifiable human tissue, blood, soiled surgical dressing, swabs and other similar soiled waste. Group A should be placed in a yellow clinical waste bag and no more than three quarters full.
Group B – discarded syringe needles, cartridges, broken glass and any other contaminate disposable sharp instruments or items. This group should be stored in a yellow sharps bin and again when three quarters full and closed.
Group C – microbiological cultures and potentially infected waste from pathology departments and other clinical or research laboratories.
Group D – drugs or other pharmaceutical products.
Group E – items used to dispose of urine, faeces and other bodily secretions or excretions which do not fall within Group A, this includes used disposable bed pans or bed pan liners, incontinence pads, stoma bags and urine containers where there is no risk of blood contamination.
The care setting will have contracts with external contractors that will collect the clinical waste and safely dispose of it.
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995
There is a legal requirement to report notifiable diseases, major accidents and incidents occurring in the workplace. This includes employers, self employed people or people in control of premises, they must to report , or and dangerous occurrences. One member of staff will be responsible for ensuring that the report is correctly filled in and sent to the correct department. This ensures that the report is always completed.
These reports enable externally sources such as local councils or HSE to investigate why and how these incidents happened. They then can advise the workplace on how to prevent or reduce the risk of future incidents, especially where death or serious injury has occurred. This could be giving better guidelines on infection control to stop the spread of diseases in the workplace or advice on better handling of sharps after a needle stick injury.
