Explain The Role Of Risk Management In Health And Social Care

It is our responsibility as employees to take precautionary measures to prevent and control the spread of infection in the workplace. This involves working safely to protect myself, other staff, visitors and individuals from infections.

6. Also the correct procedures should adhere to school and local authority health and safety guidelines.

Learning outcome 2: Understand legislation and policies relating to prevention and control of infections For all legislation and policies – key points, mandatory or relevant training, impact on organisation, impact on day to day work, implications of failing to meet legislative or regulatory requirements in terms of legal penalties, organisation reputation and individual safety Current legislation, to include: The Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act, 1984 The Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 1998 Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Act (amended 1994) Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 2002 Food Safety Act, 1990 Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences (RIDDOR) 1995 The Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991 Health Protection Agency Bill 2004 Other new/current legislation that affects infection control Hazardous waste regulations 2005 The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulation (Department of Health, 1995)

All areas that are being used for healthcare activities should be cleaned with either disinfectant wipes each morning and in between patients/procedures. Equipment should be all new out of the packets and clean. For things more major such as vasectomy’s, minor surgery or family planning clinics, areas should be cleaned everywhere with a disinfectant fluid and also with wipes, gloves should always be worn as well as other PPE such as aprons and hats. All equipment should be new from the packet and only touched by the person who is using

procedures that must be followed in case of accidents, it also specifies that classrooms and

Reporting of Injuries,Diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations of 1995 requires the reporting of work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences. The Act applies to all work related activities, but not to all work related incidents. The objective of the regulations is to enable the enforcing authorities to identify where and how risks arise and to investigate serious accidents so as to prevent them from occurring in the future and thus providing a safer work environment. The enforcing authorities can then help and advise you on preventive action to reduce injury, ill health and accidental loss,the main points of our own policy that relate to this are:

Accidents: slips, trips, falls, burns, chocking, misuse of equipment etc.; illnesses: food-borne, flue, influenza, colds, asthma, seizures, convulsions, fainting, cardiac arrest, allergic reactions etc.

Within in my own setting one of my roles is to promote individuals’ independence but in the same time we have to protect them from harm and danger. Everybody takes risks in everyday living therefore people living in care homes should be able to that, too. When we look after our residents, we make sure that they are aware of any risks involved, e.g. before they go out. Risk assessment is completed. Risk assessment covers many areas like showering themselves, going out on their own. We do them with our residents to identify what they want, what risks it involves, and how they can be avoided or minimized.

The standard precautions are implemented at all times to decrease the risk of transmitting infectious agents. Assuming that all patients could carry an infection, this minimises the potential spread of HAI’s. These standard precautions include routine hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, safe handling and disposure of sharps and routine environmental cleaning.4,5 In this situation, where blood is present, this is considered a biohazard. Hand hygiene must be performed before touching the patient, before and after any procedures or exposure to bodily substances and after touching the patient or any of the patient’s surroundings. The use of Personal protective equipment should be used when attending to the patient. This includes protective eye wear, a surgical mask and an apron for protection from any splashes or sprays of blood generated by the patient. Gloves should also be worn for single use only when coming in contact with open skin and bodily fluids. To minimise the spread of blood, the bystander with visibly soiled hands should also be advised to thoroughly clean them with soap and

Needle stick and sharps injuries are the dangerous hazards for any medical personnel. Sharp objects can contain pathogens like hepatitis virus, HIV, which pose death risk. The additional explosion to the blood-borne pathogen includes sudden bleeding or wound care. Immunization is a required procedure, but it only can protect from hepatitis B illnesses. The company requires having a vaccination against hep B. Some research stated that most healthcare workers don’t follow standards and protocols and don’t report the injuries. All our workers need to report any injuries, which related to blood-borne pathogens. The organization establish practice control and reduce worker’s exposure by providing personal protective clothing and equipment, and specialized

Carefully cleaning and disinfecting rooms and medical equipment and minimize the use of medical equipment

The advent of OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogen Standard and other revisions that called for advances in sharps technology, and the research utilized by peer reviewed literature identified new procedural requirements for health care workers, providing helpful elaboratory additions to exposure control plans meant to reduce worker exposure from hazards associated with bloodborne pathogens.

Healthcare workers are always at a greater risk of contracting contagious diseases as they work in hospitals and regularly encounter patients suffering from contagious diseases. Disease-causing organisms can easily transmit from patients to healthcare workers, the best precaution against this is, to have all healthcare workers vaccinated.

The scope of this paper will be evauluating the information and detailing the tasks that must be carried out within the following scenario, "Suppose you were recently hired for a new initiative as a business continuity lead / manager at a medium-sized healthcare company. You have been asked to prepare a presentation to the Board of Directors on your main duties for the company and how your position could help protect the business in case of a large-scale incident or disaster. You have been alerted that since this is a new initiative and could come with a potentially large price tag, there is skepticism from some of the Board members."

Universal (standard) precautions involve hand washing and the use of protective barriers such as gloves, gowns, aprons, masks, or protective eyewear which can reduce the risk of exposure of the health care worker's skin or mucous membranes to potentially infective materials (Department of Health, 1999).