Unpleasant – sorry! It is not a nice scenario but it does happen. So, if you see something dangerous, like a fire exit obstruction, remove it immediately and report that you have done so. If you do not follow health and safety legislation and local policies and procedures, you are putting yourself and other people at risk of injury or even death.

Your employer may have policies and procedures covering a wide range of health and safety subjects to incorporate the legal requirements.
You will need to use the legal framework and communicate with your employer about local health and safety policies and procedures.

You need to understand everyone’s health and safety responsibilities in the workplace. Whilst everyone has a responsibility for health and safety, there are three key groups whose responsibilities differ.

Please call me Anna (only my mother calls me Anabel!). I am Anna, I am a care and support worker.

Without the correct level of information, training and competence checks there are certain tasks you are not allowed to carry out.
Your manager will support you to identify what you can and cannot do. These are some examples.

The law requires employers to ensure workers are competent in health and safety at work.
Organisations must have a documented health and safety policy if they employ five or more people. If there are less than five people, it is still recommended to have a policy.

Falling into a washing machine is possible but thankfully not common. There are lots of different types of accidents and sudden illness that could occur in your workplace.

Risk assessments are a legal requirement to support the health, safety, welfare and security of staff, individuals and the wider community.
Risk assessments identify hazards so procedures can be put in place to reduce risks. There are various different types of risk assessment that relate to particular work settings, situations and activities.

If you identify a hazard, you should act quickly, especially because your action could prevent an accident from happening.
This is a legal requirement.

Here are some common risk examples and the actions that you can take

There are 4 key pieces of legislation that relate to moving and assisting.
These are in addition to the Health and Safety at Work Act which was covered earlier in Standard 13. These are:

Over a third of injuries in the workplace, which lead to time off work, are a result of poor moving and positioning.
Legislation is clear that you will need to learn the correct techniques for safe moving and assisting before you move objects and before you assist people to move. This involves lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving objects by hand or by bodily force

efore carrying out any moving task, you must read the risk assessment and then do a pre-handling assessment.
An ergonomic approach looks at manual handling as a whole. It takes into account a range of relevant factors, including the nature of the task, the individual, the load, the working environment and any equipment required.

There are a couple of acronyms used in social care to help you remember the checklist in your pre-handling assessment. The acronym PEACE is sometimes used. This acronym stands for:

There are many different types of accident or sudden illness that can occur at work.
Many are similar to what can happen when you are going about your personal life. There will be higher risks with some of the people you work with due factors like their mental capacity, medical conditions and physical ability.

We have identified some of the main accidents or sudden illnesses that might occur at work.
You now need to understand what procedures you should follow. Here’s another acronym that is designed to help you.

There will be emergency first aid actions you cannot carry out until you have been trained.
You will need specific emergency first aid training in order to be able to respond to a situation where an individual has had a more serious accident or sudden illness. Before you have undertaken training, you must always call for or get help from someone who is trained. Once you have been trained, you will be able to follow the procedures you have been given.

You must never put yourself or others in danger by attempting to deal with an emergency situation.
You must ne

It is likely that the individuals you support will take medication of one description or another.
You are not allowed to remind, give, support or assist an individual with medication or administer medication unless you have learnt how to do this safely.

Some medication is given to reduce the symptoms of long term illness, for example Parkinson’s disease or diabetes. Other medication can be taken (prescribed or bought from a chemist) to support with a short term problem, for example, a chest infection or headache.

Are you carrying out healthcare tasks?
These will be described in an individual’s care or support plan. You are already aware that you cannot give medication without first being instructed and signed off as competent. It is the same for healthcare tasks.

Certain procedures relating to medication and healthcare should only be carried out by people who have been trained and observed as competent.
Failure to follow these guidelines could result in serious injury or even death to the individuals you are supporting. These are some of the tasks relating to medication and healthcare that you will not be allowed to carry out or support individuals on your own with until you have been signed off as competent:

You will use lots of different types of products every day.
Some of these will be hazardous substances that can be harmful and some can even cause death. In the workplace, you have a duty of care to make sure substances are used, stored and disposed of safely.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (known as COSHH) say that employers must identify which hazardous substances are present in the workplace.

Under health and safety legislation…
Employers are required to:

Determine which hazardous substances are present in the workplace.
Assess the risks to employees and others from the presence of these hazardous substances.

Oxygen: The main source of oxygen is in the air around us. Sometimes there could be oxygen found in chemicals or oxygen cylinders.

Heat: A common cause of fire is a carelessly discarded cigarette. This, along with lighters, matches, naked flames like candles, faulty electrical equipment, hot surfaces, lighting, electric or gas heaters, cooking equipment are all sources of ignition.

Fuel: Sources are empty boxes, rubbish, paper, wood, upholstered furniture, flammable chemicals, rubber, clothes and curtains can all provide sources of fuel and help a fire to spread.

All workplaces will have their own specific procedures you will need to follow in the event of a fire emergency.
You must make sure that you are aware of and understand these procedures. If you discover a fire, you need to:

Security measures and procedures should be in place at work.
These are designed to protect you, your colleagues and the individuals you support from becoming a victim of crime. In residential homes there may be people specifically responsible for security. You should know what security procedures and systems are in place and follow these at all times. If security is breached, you will need to know what to do.

Some work settings will have an open policy for visiting and you might see people who you do not recognise.
In other work settings, you may need a security code or special access pass to get in. You may need to wear an identification badge with your photo.

You should never let a stranger into your workplace and never let a stranger walk unsupervised around your place of work.
You should never let a stranger into your workplace and never let a stranger walk unsupervised around your place of work.

Stress is the way a person feels when they feel there is too much pressure to cope with.
A little bit of pressure can be positive, productive and motivating, but too much pressure can lead to negative stress and this can be harmful to health. When we talk about stress we are usually referring to negative stress and this can be unhealthy for the mind and body. Everyone reacts differently to stress and different people can cope with different levels of stress. In many cases, too much stress often leads to physical, mental and emotional problems.

Working in social care can be stressful as you are often supporting people with serious challenges in their lives. The individuals you support can also become stressed and you have a duty of care to support them.

There are many factors which might affect whether a person can cope.
In addition to things like skills, experience, age or disability there are six main areas that can lead to work-related stress if they are not managed properly.

See what these are…

Demands
Control
Support
Relationships
Role
Change

Resilience
Research suggests that the ability to cope well under pressure is based on a positive outlook, combined with strategies to manage pressure. One of the key ways to manage stress is to build and increase resilience, which is the ability to cope under pressure. A person who copes well under pressure is resilient.