Essay On Unit 306 Health And Social Care

Unit 306 Promote and Implement health and safety in social care
306.1 – Understand own responsibilities, and the responsibilities of others, relating to health and safety What it represents: All workers have the right to work in places where risks to their health and safety are properly controlled. Health and Safety is about stopping you getting hurt at work or ill through work. It is the employer’s responsibility to manage Health and Safety but employees must help too. The company I work for (Lifeways) provide staff with traning in Health and Safety and familiarize us with the law.
The company recognises that there are several benefits of a good safety management:
The safety of everyone involved: Staff, Service Users, contractors and public
Reduced number of accidents and ill health
Protection of their best interest and reputation
Compliance with their legal duties
Happier, better motivated staff
Greater operating efficiency
The company takes a Person Centered Health and Safety Approach and is part of each individual’s care plan and therefore the individual and his family are involved in the planning of the individual’s Health and Safety and risk taking. It focuses on how we can increase the numbers of things individuals are involved in where risk is not considered a negative factor or preventative.
The Company is legally required to produce, and revise as necessary, a Health and Safety Policy. Lifeways’s Policy forms a significant part of their Health and Safety Management System (HSMS) including:
Commitment to managing Health and Safety
Policies which can be found in the Health, Safety and Operational Policies Folder
Procedures
Monitoring and reviewing activities to ensure the effectiveness of HSMS.
The Company posts their “Health and Safety Policy Statement” around their premises so that all the staff are aware of their intentions.
Lifeways has documented their policies which identify, in individual topic areas, what they intend to do to control risks, manage health and safety issues, and comply with legal requirements. These are kept on a separate folder for ease of reference and include Health, Safety and Operational policies.
The Policies are supported by procedures to provide a means of managing the health and safety of each particular topic. They record how the associated policy will be implemented and if further arrangements are required such as training, risk assessment, record keeping, monitoring, etc.
Once what to do and how to do it is clear, it is necessary to identify who is responsible for implementing the policy and that the System is working.
The company records its organisation structure so it can clearly identify reporting lines and areas of responsibility and supports this with written responsibilities and rules for all staff and specific responsibilities for key members of staff.
Managers, while assisted by the nominated person for health and safety are required to adopt the approach laid out in the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999. These state the need for hazard identification, risk assessment and the implementation of control strategies aimed at reducing accidents, injuries and ill health. Lifeways specifically uses Risk Assessment Management Protocol system (RAMP).
What the company does:
Regularly monitor own performance and revise own Health and Safety Standards as necessary to ensure continuous improvement.
Provide sufficient resources to meet the requirements of current Health and Safety and Safety legislation and aim to achieve the standard of “Good Practice” applicable to own activities.
Actively promote an open attitude to Health and Safety Issues, encouraging staff to identify and report hazards contributing to creating and maintaining a safe working environment.
Communicate and consult with staff on all issues affecting their health and safety and bring the policies to their attention.
Provide adequate training to all staff to enable them to work safely and effectively, and to ensure they are competent and confident in the work they carry out.
Carry out and regularly review risk assessments to identify hazards and existing control measures.
Prioritise, plan and complete any corrective actions required to reduce risk to an acceptable level.
Maintain premises and work equipment to a standard that ensures that risks are effectively managed.
Ensuring that responsibilities for Health and Safety are allocated, understood, monitored and fulfilled.
Retain access to competent advice and assistance through the nominated person for health and safety(Health and Safety Manager) thereby ensuring that the company is aware of changes in legislation and “Good Practice”.
Provide Health Surveillance for staff where appropriate and maintain records.
Cooperate with other organisations in premises to ensure that they are aware of any risks to their staff and other people posed by their activities or service users, that they are aware of any risks to the staff and that they are complying with the relevant requirements of fire legislation.
It is everyone’s duty at work:
To take reasonable care of our own safety
To take reasonable care of the safety of others who may be affected by what we do or fail to do
To co-operate so that we can all comply with our legal duties
To ensure we do not interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health and safety.
Each rank in the company has then their own responsibilities:
Area/ Project Managers
Area Managers will ensure that in their areas of control:
Actively lead the implementation of the Health and Safety Policy.
Show dedication to continuous improvement in Health and Safety, including “being visible” during accident or incident investigations, inspections, audits, house meetings, health and safety committees and giving general messages of support on health and safety issues.
Supervising their employees, ensure they work safely and provide increased supervision for new workers.
Ensure that Service Managers understand the health and safety policy and that they ensure Team Leaders and those accountable for service sites are implementing it.
Safe systems of work (Support Plans) are developed and implemented.
Risk assessments are completed recorded and regularly reviewed covering all activities where a risk to health and safety exists. The significant findings of these assessments are then brought to the attention of employees who may be affected.
Adequate resources are allocated to implement the safety policy and meet all safety requirements including enough staff and responsibilities to ensure that service users, staff, visitors, contractors and the general public are not exposed to undesirable risks.
The health and safety plan of continuous improvement is progressed and scheduled actions are completed on time and validated.
To establish achievable goals for health and safety objectives.
Accidents, ill health and “near miss” incidents at work are investigated, recorded on the Cold Harbour system and reported to the Head of Health and Safety or Regional Adviser as required.
To assist in any way with any internal investigations.
Maintain communication with employees on health and safety issues.
Encourage employees to report hazards and raise health and safety concerns.
Safety training for employees is identified, undertaken and recorded to ensure employees are competent to carry out their work in a safe manner.
Issues concerning safety raised by anyone are thoroughly investigated and, when necessary, further effective control measures are implemented and communicated to employees.
Welfare facilities are provided and maintained in a satisfactory state.
Statutory examinations, such as gas / electrical systems are planned, completed and recorded within the Area Offices.
Any safety issues that cannot be dealt with are referred to their Regional manager for action.
Health and safety rules are followed by all.
The monitoring and checking activities are completed.
To set a personal example.
Service/Locality Managers
Managers will ensure that in their areas of control:
They are active at leading the implementation of The H&S Policy
Where they are accountable they will be responsible for the day-to-day management of health and safety
They supervise their employees to ensure they work safely, providing increased supervision for new workers.
Make sure that they and their employees understand and follow Health and Safety System (Support Plans). Also involve people who use the service where possible.
Safe systems of work are developed and implemented.
All transport issues are adequately managed.
Statutory examinations, such as gas/electrical systems are planned, completed and recorded within service user premises.
Risk assessments are completed, recorded and regularly reviewed covering all processes and activities where a risk to health and safety exists. The significant of these assessments are then brought to the attention of employees who may be affected.
Risk assessment schedules are developed and maintained at service sites.
The service managers also take some responsibilities that the Area Manager would if there isn’t an Area Manager.
REGISTERED MANAGERS
Actively lead the implementation of Health and Safety Policy.
Responsible for day-to-day management of
health&safety.
Supervise their employees ensuring safe working, increased supervision for new workers. Ensure that they and their employees understand and follow Health & Safety System. Involve people who use the service where possible.
Safe Systems of work (Support Plans) are developed and implemented.
Statutory examinations, Gas/Electrical systems are planned, completed and recorded.
Risk assessments are completed recorded and regularly reviewed covering all processes and activities where a risk to health and safety exists. Significant findings are then brought to the attention of employees who may be affected.
Develops and maintains risk assessment schedules.
Progresses, schedules actions for the continuous improvement of the health and safety plan and complete on time and validates.
Investigates Accidents, ill health and “near miss” incidents at work, records on the Cold harbour system and reports to Head of Health and Safety or Regional Adviser as required.
Assists in any way with any internal investigations.
Ensures that adequate first aid is available as defined in the first aid assessment.
Communicates and consults with employees on health and safety issues.
Encourages employees to report hazards, raise health and safety concerns, therefore ensuring the clients, visitors, contractors and public are not exposed to unacceptable risks.
Identifies safety training for employees, undertaken and recorded to ensure that employees are competent to carry out their work in a safe manner.
Thoroughly investigates and, when necessary, implements further control measures regarding any issues raised concerning safety and communicates to employees.
Plans, completes and records statutory examinations at services user’s premises. When encounters safety issues that cannot deal with refers to an Area Manager for action.
Ensures that health and safety rules are followed by all.
Ensures that the employer’s liability is displayed or available at each service.
Monitoring and checking activities are completed monthly.
Sets a personal example.
Team Leaders and Senior Support Workers
Team Leaders, when in their area of responsibility have the same responsibilities as Registered Managers but on a smaller scale: they are only responsible for the service they are at while the Managers are responsible for several services and supervise several team leaders.
306.2 Be able to carry out own responsibilities for health and safety
Employees Responsibilities
All employees are responsible for acting in a safe manner whilst at work. By understanding our responsibilities and following the company’s safety rules, support plans, we will be helping to comply with our legal duties and contributing to the safe running of our workplace and services. We all have the responsibility to:
Be familiar with the Health and Safety Manual – it is a useful reference source and this unit was written based on it: “Health and Safety Policy booklet revised” for Lifeways.
Attend training courses as required by risk assessments, supervisions and health and safety manual and legislation. There is a staff member responsible for making sure that staff training is up to date and refreshed when necessary.
My Service Manager, Team Leader or Senior Support Worker may ask me to complete various health and safety forms: Some activity specific, like pedal power or swimming.
Organise for emergencies – Read procedures to prevent or reduce the chances of injury and co-operate with practice drills and reviews of drills. As a key worker I also wrote the Procedure Protocol for Fire Emergencies and take part on regular drills to ensure that everyone knows what they must do. We also test the fire alarms weekly and record this.
Get to know my role and any rota for maintaining, cleaning, testing or servicing of buildings and equipment. On a weekly bases equipment labels are checked and equipment checked, slings are checked before each use.
To take reasonable care for my own safety.
To take reasonable care of the safety of others affected by what we do or fail to do. When in a work setting the training given makes staff aware of potential risks to themselves and others that normally we would ignore, pre-empt and dynamically risk assess the situation.
I must never interfere with or misuse, intentionally or recklessly, anything provided in the interest of safety.
To co-operate so that we as individuals and our organisation can fulfil our legal duties e.g. comply with our safety rules, support plans.
To set a good personal example in relation to health and safety.
To assist in any way with any internal investigations.
Complete incident forms where required.
Lead by example.
306.3 Understand procedures for responding to accidents and sudden illness
INCIDENT / ACCIDENT REPORTING
In the company manual regarding these matters it states: “The term ‘incident’ is used to refer to a service user safety incident, serious adverse event, service user event, accident and so on, any complaint, particularly about service user safety issues, which demands a response beyond the routine, resulting from uncontrolled developments in the course of our work.”
The event may either cause, or have the potential to cause, either:
Multiple serious injuries, cases of ill health(either immediate or delayed), loss of life, or
Serious disruption or extensive damage to property, inside or outside the establishment.
Accident is defined as:
An undesired event, which results in physical harm and/or property damage.
Serious untoward incident:
Some incidents have serious outcomes and require formal investigations. These are known as Serious Untoward Incidents:
An accident or incident where a service user or member of staff suffer major permanent harm or unexpected death, (or the risk of death or injury), at any of the company’s services where support is provided or any area office.
Where actions of Lifeways staff are likely to cause significant public concern. any event that might seriously impact upon service delivery plans; and/or may attract media attention; and/or result in litigation and/or may reflect serious breach of standards or quality of services.
We must report and learn from all incidents/accidents with these outcomes:
Concerning Event – Such as a person’s money going missing.
Equipment or Property Damage only – Such as a hoist collapsed while no one was in it.
Could have caused injury – such as a person threw an object that missed people, or a fire started but everybody got out of the building in time.
Dangerous Occurrence.
Reportable Disease – occupational diseases.
Minor Injury – an injury or illness that’s not over-three days but caused physical damage to a person. For example: cuts, bruising or pain that continued after the incident.
Over 1-day injury –incident/accident resulted in an injury/illness that caused a person to be off work or unable to do normal activities for more than 1 day.

Incident Report Sheet
Staff members fill out the first page of the Incident/Accident Report Form straight away. If there is the need to show location of injury then the body map form must be completed too. Service Managers must fill out page 2 of the Incident/Accident Report Form within 24 hours of the incident. All Incidents and accidents, however minor, must be reported. This includes near misses and equipment damage. Nevertheless, there are two possible exceptions: Epileptic Seizures The Incident/Report form may not be needed for epileptic seizures, if they do not result in a physical injury or equipment damage. This is acceptable if epilepsy charts are used instead. Aggression Staff may not need to use the form for physical aggression behaviours if they do not result in injury. This is acceptable, as long as staff have a reliable monitoring system for challenging behaviour. This information will still however be needed on the Incident/Accident Statistics Form. Area Managers must work with the Service Managers to carry out investigations for over 1-day, major and other concerning events that are thought to warrant such an investigation. This can be achieved by using the Incident/Accident Investigation Form. This guides the investigation process. Once completed, store all investigation documents securely in personal files for at least 5 years. The company’s Service Managers, complete ‘Incident/Accident Statistics Report’ every month. They also provide a rundown to explain the figures, and then pass it on to their Area Managers. Area Managers complete their own ‘Incident/Accident Statistics Report’ every month, compiled from the ones received from their Service Manager’s. This then reaches their Regional Managers and the statistics on the sheet are discussed with the Health and Safety committee. The information is used to improve risk assessments and the risk assessment schedule. Witness statements must be completed where there is any time off work for employees and injury to the person being supported.
306.4 Be able to reduce the spread of infection
BLOOD BORNE DISEASES Blood-borne infections are diseases that can pass from one person to another through exchange of bodily fluids such as blood, vaginal secretions, semen and saliva, mucocutaneous exposure to blood or body fluids (to the eye, mucous membranes of nose or mouth, or non-intact skin). The most commonly know are HIV, which may develop into AIDS, and the Hepatitis B virus, which causes a serious liver infection. Hepatitis B is highly infectious. Should the staff member be carrying an infection he/she is aware of, they do not have to disclose that information. Privacy is most important. If, during the pre-employment stage of employment, the company becomes aware that staff is a carrier of blood borne infection, they will not disclose this without the staff member’s written consent. If staff provides personal care, they must ensure that they are protected by immunisation for the tasks they do. It is their duty to talk to their Service Manager or Team Leader about this and learn more. They should have carried out a risk assessment for blood-borne infections to decide what immunisations are needed. It is also my duty:
To co-operate with all measures taken to protect me from blood borne virus transmission; in particular, be aware of the principle of Universal Precautions applicable to my area of work. Universal Precautions include:
Making a barrier – such as wearing gloves and aprons when providing personal intimate care.
Washing your hands- this essential precaution is extensively covered in training and info-graphics in the work place.
Clean equipment – making sure that all equipment is thoroughly clean.
Being aware – awareness of the risks and how to avoid them
Should I have any reason to believe that I may be infected with any blood borne viruses I must promptly seek medical advice on the need for testing, while also informing my Service Manager.
If following a risk assessment the company identifies that I may be at risk, they will recommend that I ask my GP for the hepatitis B immunisation. If the GP decides to charge for this the company will cover the cost. The immunisation has varying degrees of success. To ensure cover, Staff will need a further blood test four months after the first course of injections. This will enable the GP to decide if further injections are needed. A booster will possibly be needed within 3-5 years.
To prevent the spread of infection the use of PPE is of the greatest importance, also hand washing and sanitising are vital. Staff must wash their hands before and after glove use and before and after doing anything in the house but especially when going from one client to the other; any cuts, abrasions and any other skin lesions on the hands (and other exposed areas of the skin) of the support worker, should be covered with a waterproof dressing. Each client’s laundry must be washed and dealt with separately and when bathrooms are shared it is vital to sanitise facilities from one client to the other. Infection control is in every aspect of day to day work: Washing the pots, these must go through the dishwasher for sterilising and dried when being put away, food must be safely stored and prepared. Each client has their own toiletries and these are kept separately and never come in contact with someone else’s (e.g. toothbrushes, razors, etc). Definitions Standard Infection Control Precautions consist of:
Hand Hygiene
Personal Protective Equipment(PPE)
Sharps Management (where we support individuals with injections)
Blood and Body Fluid Spillage
Guidelines to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Staff must wear disposable gloves in these situations:
Personal care when handling body fluids such as blood, vomit, urine and faeces
Emptying a catheter bag
Changing incontinence products
If either staff or client has a skin condition
Applying prescribed or recommended creams to the people who use the service
Applying creams that contain drugs
Any other tasks in which the risk assessments and procedures say you must wear disposable gloves
Latex gloves can cause dermatitis and asthma, so use non powdered low-protein or nitrile gloves.
Do not use damaged gloves.
Peel used disposable gloves off hands – leaving the glove inside out. Put these in a small sealed plastic bag and put in with household rubbish or in yellow sacks.
306.5 Be able to move and handle equipment and other objects safely
MANUAL HANDLING / PEOPLE WE SUPPORT
Within out services the manual handling that is required is that of a normal household; however, where we are required to move people we support, this risk becomes more significant. This is the case of the house I work in. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations require Risk Assessments for tasks involving lifting, pushing and pulling of loads – where loads can be objects or people. There can be a lot of manual handling in support work and manual handling injuries are one of the most common types of injury at work. To prevent this it is essential that tasks involving manual handling are risk assessed. Within the Lifeways and on their subsidiary companies the philosophy is putting people first and has a zero tolerance approach on manual handling related ill health and injuries. Service Managers / Team Leaders have a responsibility to ensure that suitable and sufficient assessments of manual handling tasks are undertaken in their area of responsibility where generic assessments do not address these. Based upon this, an action plan and support plan will be formulated, implemented and monitored. The competent persons who carry out these assessments are staff who have undertaken the CIEH level 3 training or British Safety Council Supervising Staff Safely module or trained by someone competent to deliver such training to allow assessor to carry out a suitable risk assessment. Service Managers must ensure that all staff that are involved in the transfers of the people we support are fully competent in the task and that they have received adequate training to perform their duties and that this training is up to date and relevant. Support Workers must:
Follow support plans
Use equipment provided safely
Report any damaged equipment to their line manager
Take reasonable care for the health, safety and welfare of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or their omissions.
Report to line management damage to floors
Wear sensible footwear, NO open toe shoes or flip flops are allowed
Regarding this unit there has been an Observation in “Pedal Power” in which I not only manual handled an individual but then set him down in a specially adapted bicycle and then lift him back out of it and onto his wheelchair again, to perform this activity staff are trained by the company’s Manual Handling trainer and Pedal Power staff too. There are risks to account for that have to be assessed: Terrain, try and find somewhere more even to hoist, to client’s mood and its interaction with the weather: if unhappy there can be challenging behaviour and the moving and handling made impossible.
306.6 Be able to handle hazardous substances and materials
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES
C.O.S.H.H. – The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations requires that employees and others likely to be affected are protected against exposure to hazardous substances either used, or created, by work activities. Staff may have to deal with body fluids and wastes, which are potentially hazardous. Clinical waste falls within the scope of C.O.S.H.H. All clinical waste is divided into five categories – Group A to E.
Group A All human tissues including blood (whether infected or not). Waste materials where the assessment indicates a risk to staff handling them, for example: from infectious disease cases; soiled surgical dressings, swabs and other soiled waste.
Group B Discarded syringe needles, cartridges, broken glass and any other contaminated disposable sharp instruments or items.
Group C Microbiological cultures and waste from pathology departments and research laboratories.
Group D Certain pharmaceutical products and chemical waste (includes out of date pharmaceuticals).
Group E Items used to dispose of urine, faeces and other bodily secretions or excretions assessed as not falling within Group A. This includes used disposable bed pan liners, incontinence pads, stoma bags and urine containers. Within my role and even company Group E is the most relevant. This group contains items that will usually present a low level of risk. However, as the actual risk cannot be readily demonstrated, items within this group should be treated as clinical waste. While the risk may be low, the waste from Group E will often be of an offensive nature. It is therefore, advisable that adequate procedures within the service are put into effect for proper handling and disposal arrangements. Within the service I work there is one bin with clinical waste bag in the toilet that is used as a receptacle for continence products soiled with urine and this is cleaned and changed daily, any faeces are bagged and removed to an outside inconspicuous clinical waste bin to avoid gathering of offensive smells and this too is emptied on a regular basis into a Clinical Waste Bin that is collected weekly by the local authority for proper disposal. All staff handling clinical waste must ensure they wear appropriate protective clothing provided (aprons, gloves, alcohol hand gel in my service).
Assessing the Risks
Make sure products are labelled Make sure containers are marked clearly with the product name and hazard as well as details of how they should be used safely. Never pour substances into other containers.
List the products and consider whether to use them Identify all products that may be hazardous. List them on the company’s COSHH list. It is vital to remember that substances that would normally be considered harmless could be harmful if you support people who may eat or drink them. Hazardous products can easily be identified by looking for hazard symbols in the bottles and actions to take should the hazard come to happen. As an organisation Lifeways encourages the use of products that do not have these symbols, although there might be the need to use some due to there being no low-risk alternative. When the product is selected we should also consider environmental impact and any pets coming into contact with any substances. A product may not have any Hazardous symbols and still be harmful. In theory, everything can be poisonous in the right quantities. Also, understand that COSHH is not just about products that can be bought from a shop. It is also for materials we may encounter. Examples could include soiled laundry containing E-Coli or garden soil that could contain tetanus. Should the individual’s we support be independent enough to use cleaning chemicals, then we should explain to them the hazards and emergency procedures.
306.7 Be able to promote fire safety in the work setting
FIRE SAFETY Lifeways Fire Safety Procedure is based on the framework recommended as representing best practice be Health Technical Memorandum HTM 05-01 “Managing Healthcare Fire Safety”, published by the Department of Health. HTM 05-01, which follows the principles of BS5588-12:2004 requires those responsible for fire safety within healthcare premises in England and Wales to:
Comply with prevailing legislation
Implement fire precautions through a risk managed approach
Comply with monitoring and reporting mechanisms appropriate to the management of fire safety
Develop partnership initiatives with other agencies and bodies in the provision of fire safety.
Employees Responsibilities
It is essential that us as employees know how to raise alarm, evacuate the building, assist others where necessary and use various types of fire fighting equipment provided. As a key worker I must also assess the service users and their reactions during drills and with the assistance of external agencies (including fire department) draw out procedures in case of fire to ensure both Client and Staff safety. All employees are therefore responsible for his/her actions and for:
Promoting Fire Safety
Co-operating with Service Managers and Team Leaders to achieve a safe workplace / service site and for taking reasonable care of themselves.
Complying with the Fire Safety Training and fire drills.
Assisting with Fire Risk Assessments and audits as necessary
Training
Lifeways induction training is sufficient to meet the needs of most circumstances staff find themselves in.
Fire training should be arranged based on assessed risk. There is no definitive training that should otherwise be undertaken as legislation uses the word adequate. Fire Extinguishers are essentially in place for the protection of the building rather than the people within it. Landlords provide them as often a requirement is placed upon them during commissioning. All extinguishers provided should be done so on the back of a Fire Risk Assessment. Therefore, the ethic is: remove people from a burning building while it is safe for both Service User and staff member to do so, or make Service Users safe as possible until the fire service arrives.
Registered Services: The induction training is sufficient to meet the needs of these services. A good Fire Risk Assessment should be carried out and reviewed annually. This Risk Assessment will identify any further fire training if any, is required. It is expected that the person carrying out the Risk Assessment should be arranged via the Health and Safety Manager, where he can then negotiate any training with the assessor.
Supported Living: The induction training is sufficient to meet the needs of these services, unless an assessment has been made by a ‘competent’ person that further training is required. A competent person being someone who understands supported living, the needs of the Service Users and is in management position. The company’s fire procedure was developed in line with government guidance, so that a responsible person, who would usually be the Service Manager with limited formal training or experience, should be able to carry out a simple fire risk assessment and know what, if any, additional fire precaution or prevention arrangements need to be in place. It is also in line with the typical 5 step risk assessment process for which many Service Managers received CIEH training.
PEEPS
Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans are customised documents that provide a framework for the planning and provision of emergency evacuation of people with a disability. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Equality Act and the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, place duties on Lifeways to implement effective arrangements for access and emergency evacuation for employees and individuals we support. A PEEP should be completed for a Service User who requires assistance with ANY aspect of emergency evacuation. The plan should include assistance required from the point of raising the alarm to passing through the final exit of the building. A suitable PEEP will allow Support Workers to apply appropriate support in an emergency, which considers their disability and vulnerability. The PEEP could be influenced by things such as fire retardant doors. At times it might be safer for an individual to stay safe behind a Fire Retardant door than actually attempting to remove him from the building. Staff are trained in fire procedures and key workers such as myself write and implement the PEEP’s and drill them regularly.
The most common causes of fires in work premises are:
Willful fire raising and arson
Cigarretes / Matches
Fixed or portable heathers
Hot processes
Faulty or misused electrical equipment
Obstruction of equipment ventilation
Static electricity
Accumulation of combustible materials
Flammable liquids and gases
Inadequate supervision of cooking activities
The Fire Risk Assessment will help determine the chances of a fire occurring and the risks o people using the premises. The potential for fire starting depends on the presence of three things:
A source of ignition
Fuel
Oxygen
When considering each of these in relation to the premises it helps determine how and where fire could start. The next step is to establish who could be harmed. When this has been done, the risk can be evaluated and a decision made as to whether or not existing controls are adequate. A good Housekeeping standard will improve fire safety greatly. Where I work there is a fire alarm that we test weekly and is regularly serviced by Snowdonia – the entity responsible for its full working order. Staff also runs Drills as realistic as possible to the service users with the Fire Alarm to make them aware of what to do when it sounds.
306.8 Be able to implement security measures in the work setting When working in an individual’s house sometimes there is the need for other organisations and individuals to access the premises and carry out work or other agencies such as Social Services requesting access to information regarding the care and wellbeing of the individuals we support. When this happens security is paramount and checks must be carried out. Should anyone need to access the premises this is usually done by appointment and staff are aware of the person coming to visit and their appointment time, and even then they must show proof of identification. If they do not have for any reason an appointment then we contact the company they represent and enquire if they are indeed who they claim to be and ID them and match over the phone with their office and when needed our own; this prevents security breaches. Should the requirement be for information we always divert this to head office and there they will deal with the request and its validity and should they need they will then request us for the documentation required and facilitate the entity with whatever they see fit to share. Should the information be requested internally we still contact management to discuss the entitlement to see/know this information and what best route to take should we need to provide it. Otherwise information is kept under lock and key and only relevant authorized people who need to can access it. When an individual is successfully identified it is essential to sign them in to the setting and for their whereabouts to be known at all times, both for their own safety and for that of the clients (the client could become anxious with a stranger in his room and become aggressive or the individual carrying out his work could accidently injure the client. A fire could break out and the visitor would be overlooked should he not be signed in). During the course of our work it is also important for other staff to know where about I am and I must know where they are, we know the duration of an activity and should it take longer than normal we will be looking to contact the staff member and find out if he or the client are ok. If a client was to collapse and I was in a situation of having to help immediately I would be looking at shouting for help – If staff knows where I am then they would quickly reach me and the casualty and provide assistance, or I go outside to dispose of a bin bag, if no one knows where I am and I take a fall no one will know that I am missing or where and I could be there for a long time. Safety and knowing each other’s whereabouts is very important. Health and Safety also regulates that the nature of the work should be Risk Assessed and where risk is identified control measures taken to reduce it, for example in projects of severe challenging behaviour staff carries personal alarms that alert other staff for that one’s location and need for assistance – in these cases the Risk was Assessed and the need for these devices identified and carried out.

306.9 Know how to manage stress.
Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life, but this is no easy thing to do. The true source of stress isn’t always obvious, and it’s all too easy to overlook our own stress-inducing thoughts, feeling, and behaviours. It may be the case that a staff member is constantly worried about work deadlines but is it that the work is being left till last minute and then deadline stress comes along? To identify the true source of stress, one must look closely at our own habits, attitude, and excuses:
Am I just explaining away stress as temporary (“I have too much going on right now”) even though this situation is ongoing?
Am I just defining stress as an integral part of my home or work life (“things are always crazy around here”) or as part of who I am (“I have a lot of nervous energy, that’s all”).
Am I just blaming my stress on other people or outside events, or view it as entirely normal and unexceptional?
It is vital to accept responsibility for own role in creating and maintaining stress, otherwise my stress level’s will remain outside my control. A good well proven technique to deal with stress is the creation of a journal and putting things into perspective, it can help me identify the regular stressors in my life and the way I deal with them. Each that I feel stressed, I keep track of it in a journal. By keeping a log I can see patterns and common themes. Things I write down:
What is causing me the stress (Sometimes I just have to take a few guesses and eliminate as I analyze it further).
How it made me feel, both physically and emotionally
How I acted in response
What I did to make myself feel better.
Signs and Symptoms of excessive job and workplace stress
Feeling anxious, irritable or depressed
Apathy, loss of interest in work, forgetting things about my work that should have recorded / passed on
Problems Sleeping, fatigue and trouble concentrating
Muscle tension or headaches
Stomach problems, social withdrawal and Loss of sex drive
Using alcohol or drugs to cope
Looking at how I currently cope with stress Sometimes I need to look at stress in my life and how I am coping with it. The journal could provide a good way to identify this. Are the current coping strategies healthy or unhealthy, helpful or unproductive? Many people don’t realise that the way they deal with the stress is sometimes part of the problem.
Unhealthy ways of coping with stress:
Smoking or drinking too much or resorting to tablets or drugs to relax
Sleeping too much, over or undereating.
Zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer (this is one of my coping mechanisms)
Filling your day up to avoid facing problems
Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities (I have done this too)
Taking out your stress on others (lashing out, angry outbursts, and physical violence). Recently I have had to take a step back and do this journal myself as I was under great deal of personal and professional stress and found that I was using some of the above mentioned coping techniques and was starting to feel worst for it. This is when I researched the matter a bit and found Healthier ways to manage stress (www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm) this site gave me an insight into many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, they all require change. I found that I could either change the situation or change my reaction to it. When choosing this it helps to think of the four As: Avoid, Alter, Adapt, or Accept. Everyone has a unique response to stress, there is no “one size fits all” solution for managing stress. It is important to know that no single method works for everyone and in every situation. The company I work for gives us training in coping with stress in our “Health and Safety” induction and this pointed me to this website and further improve my stress levels.
Dealing with the Stressful Situations: The Four A’s
Change the Situation:
Avoid the stressor
Alter the stressor
Change my reaction:
Adapt to the stressor
Accept the stressor These are some of the strategies I found to deal with stress: Not all stress can be avoided, and it is not good to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. There are things however that can be eliminated and reduce the overall burden of stress.
Learning to say “no” – It is important to know my limits and stick to them. In my person and professional life sometimes I tend to want to take on too much or think I can make a difference in too many places at the same time and then struggle to meet all them “deadlines” and end up stressed. I had to take a step back and reduce the amount of things I was doing.
Avoid people who stress you out – If someone consistently causes stress in your life and you can’t turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time you spend with that person or end the relationship entirely. I had to do this personally, someone was generating too much stress in my life and I had to limit the amount of attention that I was dedicating to this person and the problems they were causing me.
Take control of your environment – If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV off. If traffic’s got you tense, take a longer but less travelled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore, do your grocery shopping online. – I found that I was getting stressed with the route to work and with being on time, started getting up earlier and setting off earlier and even when there are setbacks still make it to work on time reduced my overall stress levels.
Avoid hot-button topics – If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your conversation list. If you repeatedly argue about the same subject with the same people, stop bringing it up or excuse yourself when it’s the topic of discussion. I have done this too and started to ignore points of conversation likely to cause me stress in the short or long run.
Pare down your to-do list - Analyse your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If you’ve got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “should” and the “musts”. Drop tasks that aren’t necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely. – I found that my life was being lived on someone else’s anxiety and stress and to try and minimise theirs I was not only increasing mine but then leaving myself open to have further stress put on me, I had to change this too.
Once this strategy was in place I further worked on my stress load and sought to alter situations:
Expressing own feelings instead of bottling them up – If someone or something is bothering you, communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you don’t voice your feeling, resentment will build and the situation will likely remain the same. ( I have done this)
Be willing to compromise – When you ask someone to change their behaviour, be willing to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground. (I had a conversation with the person I was with at the time regarding this, it worked for some time).
Be more assertive – Don’t take a backseat in your own life. Deal with problems head on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them. I had course work that I would need to do and found that every time I had a day off my day was filled up with what someone else wanted me to do. I pre-empted this and before I have the day off I warn the person that I am unable to do too much as a good part of that day is reserved to do the course work.
Manage your time better – Poor time management can cause a lot of stress. When you’re stretched too thin and running behind, it’s hard to stay calm and focused. But if you plan ahead and make sure you don’t overextend yourself, you can alter the amount of stress you’re under. (I was doing too much overtime and finding that when off I was having less and less time and stressing about what needed to be done, so I took a step back and decided to plan ahead what days was I able to do overtime without interfering with my other commitments.)
Sometimes it’s not possible to change the stressor, and then I must change myself. I can adapt to stressful situations and regain my sense of control be changing my expectations and attitude.
Reframe problems – Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favourite radio station, or enjoy some alone time. (I use this daily and when something is about to upset me I try and look at the situation and how can I make the most of it and sail over it).
Look at the big picture – Take a perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? Of the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere. ( This technique helped me to deal with a very chaotic personal situation in which I started to feel cornered and helpless, taking this view on the situation helped me see that in the long run it does not matter and will most likely solve itself one way or the other without draining me in the process).
Adjust your standards – Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough”. (I was having the perfectionism demanded off me by someone else. This was burdening me with impossible tasks, I had to learn how to ignore what others expect and be happy with what I can do at the time, with the knowledge and materials available.
Focus on the positive – When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective (This is something I do on a daily basis now).

Adjusting Your Attitude How you think can deeply affect your emotional and physical well-being. Every time an individual has a negative thought about himself, his body reacts as if he was in the middle of a tension-filled situation. However if you try and see good things about yourself, you are most likely to feel good. Eliminating words such as “always”, “never”, “should”, and “must” is a good way of getting rid of self-defeating thoughts. These were introduced to me by someone else and this view on life was causing me to have them. By reducing the connection to the other person I was able to eliminate these words and start feeling good about myself again and this reduced the amount of stress I was under.
Accept the things you can’t change There are situations that cannot be changed and therefore you must accept them. You can’t change the death of a loved one, a serious illness, the breakdown of a relationship, or a national recession. When this happens, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Accepting may be difficult, but in the long run, it’s easier than railing against a situation that you can’t change.
Don’t try to control the uncontrollable – Many things in life are beyond our control – Particularly the behaviour of other people. Instead of stressing over them, focus on things that can be controlled such as the way you choose to react to problems and how you can improve this. You are participating in the problem and therefore you can be a part of it, choosing how to do it can make the difference in its outcome.
Look for the upside – There is an old saying, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. When faced with difficult situations, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth. If you think you made poor choices that contributed to a stressful situation, think about them and learn from your mistakes. Seek more information and advice from better qualified people. In case of death try and visualise the good things in life that your loved one had done and the legacy they leave.
Share your feelings – Talk to a trusted friend face to face or make an appointment with a therapist. The simple act of expressing what you’re going through can be relaxing and help you view the situation differently, even when there is nothing you can do about it. Opening up is not a sign of weakness and it won’t make you a burden to others. In fact most friends will be flattered that you trust them enough to confide in them, and it will only strengthen your bond.
Learn to forgive – Accept that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on. Dwelling on things generates more anger and conflict. This is a self fuelling situation that can lead to extremes.
Make time for fun and relaxation It is possible to reduce the amount of stress in your life by taking the time to have fun and relax. When you do this you put yourself in a much better place to deal with life’s stressors.
Things that can help you relax and recharge Go for a walk. Savour a warm cup of coffee or tea. Spend time in nature. Play with a pet. Call a good friend. Work in your garden. Sweat out tension with a good workout. Get a massage. Write in your journal. Curl up with a good book. Take a long bath. Listen to music. Light scented candles. Watch a comedy.
It’s important to avoid getting so caught up in life that we forget to take care of our own needs. Taking care of ourselves is a necessity, not a luxury.
Set aside relaxation time – you should include rest and relaxation in your daily routine. Other obligations should not eliminate this, this is your time to take a break from all responsibilities and recharge your batteries.
Connect with others – Spend time with positive people who enhance your life. A strong support system will buffer you from the negative effects of stress.
Do something you enjoy every day – Make time for leisure activities that bring you joy, whether it be sightseeing, reading, or going to the gym.
Keep your sense of humour- This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways.
Adopt a healthy lifestyle
Take regular exercise- Being physically active is key in reducing and preventing the effects of stress. You should be doing at least 30 minutes of exercise, three times per week. Nothing beats aerobic exercise for releasing built-up stress tension.
Eat a healthy diet – What you eat affects how your body reacts to situations. It is important to eat a healthy varied diet and regular meals.
Reduce caffeine and sugar – The temporary rush that these provide often ends in a crash in mood and energy. By reducing these items in your diet you will sleep better and feel more relaxed.
Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs – These substances might provide an easy escape from stress, but the relief is only temporary. You can’t avoid or mask the problems; deal with them head on and with a clear mind.
Get enough sleep – Feeling tired causes you to think irrationally and increases the amount of stressful situations you become involved in. Have a good rest.

This Document was created with the help of “Managing Health and Safety in the Lifeways group 2012/2013” employee health and safety book and training received in Health and Safety through the company.
Antonio Guerreiro