P1 Health, Safety and Security
Explain potential hazards and harm that they may arise from each in a health and social care setting (P1)
There are lots of hazards that may occur in health and social care settings, these hazards pose risks of harm that effect specific service user groups.
The essay is based on a private residential care home for the elderly with dementia, these people have mobility issues and other health issues associated with old age, e.g. high blood pressure and diabetes. There are 20 residents with 8 permanent members of staff including a nurse and various care workers.
Hazards in the physical environment
The physical environment includes everything that is around you e.g. people, buildings, pets, objects, temperature and air; all of which have a dramatic influence on people’s well-being. There is a governmental National Minimum Standards which people must maintain for a healthy physical environment.
These pose risks for the elderly residents due to their limitations in vision and with movement. The hazard is the obstacle of boxes left in the narrow hallways. This risk is that the elderly people will trip over the boxes and cause injuries to themselves, this is caused by their limitations of movement and vision thus them not seeing the obstacle or can’t move to avoid them so they are likely to fall over them. (http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/3/195.full.pdf)
Hazards from equipment
The hazards from equipment are any equipment you use or come in contact with in the work place; these could pose a hazardous risk.
This is a hazard in the residential care home due to the residents needing regular medical tests to see if their medication is working and if not then a review of the medication is needed to assess what needed to be done to help the residents. If the medical equipment such as a sphygmomanometer gives false readings due to it been broken then it can cause patients to be misdiagnosed that there medication is needed at the dosage. This misdiagnoses could
There are lots of hazards that may occur in health and social care settings, these hazards pose risks of harm that effect specific service user groups.
The essay is based on a private residential care home for the elderly with dementia, these people have mobility issues and other health issues associated with old age, e.g. high blood pressure and diabetes. There are 20 residents with 8 permanent members of staff including a nurse and various care workers.
Hazards in the physical environment
The physical environment includes everything that is around you e.g. people, buildings, pets, objects, temperature and air; all of which have a dramatic influence on people’s well-being. There is a governmental National Minimum Standards which people must maintain for a healthy physical environment.
These pose risks for the elderly residents due to their limitations in vision and with movement. The hazard is the obstacle of boxes left in the narrow hallways. This risk is that the elderly people will trip over the boxes and cause injuries to themselves, this is caused by their limitations of movement and vision thus them not seeing the obstacle or can’t move to avoid them so they are likely to fall over them. (http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/3/195.full.pdf)
Hazards from equipment
The hazards from equipment are any equipment you use or come in contact with in the work place; these could pose a hazardous risk.
This is a hazard in the residential care home due to the residents needing regular medical tests to see if their medication is working and if not then a review of the medication is needed to assess what needed to be done to help the residents. If the medical equipment such as a sphygmomanometer gives false readings due to it been broken then it can cause patients to be misdiagnosed that there medication is needed at the dosage. This misdiagnoses could
References: * http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/3/195.full.pdf 23/05/13 * http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563463/ 23/05/13 * http://www.rospa.com/occupationalsafety/training/riskassessment/control-of-substances-hazardous-to-health.aspx 23/05/13 * http://www.stephensons.co.uk/site/news_and_events/blogpost/hazardous_working_conditions_compensation 23/05/13 * http://medicalalertsystemsadvice.com/characteristics-of-medical-alert-system-for-residential-security/ 23/05/13 * http://www.epa.gov/superfund/students/clas_act/haz-ed/ff_01.htm 23/05/13 * http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12652388 23/05/13 The meaning of a potential hazard is when there is a chance of a hazard happening. These need to be looked at for a risk assessment. A hazard is chance of an injury of harm coming to a person, there can be various hazardous things e.g. working conditions and substances, these groups of things can cause harm to people.