Report on Nursing Home Health and Safety

REPORT TO THE HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE

Introduction to the workplace

Bayview Nursing Home is a new, modern nursing home containing 46 ensuite bedrooms, roomy dining and lounge facilities on both floors as well as a large garden. It is currently accommodating 41 residents and 47 members of staff including nurses, healthcare assistants, housekeeping, kitchen and maintenance staff.

Your roles and the employers' responsibilities under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005

As stated in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, the roles of an employee include adhering to all relevant statutory provisions in the workplace as well as refraining from dangerous or inappropriate behaviour that could pose a risk to oneself and other employees. The employer on the other hand is obliged to manage all work activities in a way that prevents that kind of dangerous behaviour, along with the obligation to correctly identify any hazards in the first place.

Outline the principles of good housekeeping

To ensure effective housekeeping in the workplace it is best to get every individual member of staff involved. Whether employees are given specific tasks or responsibility over a certain area, everyone is contributing to good housekeeping practice by doing their part every day.

However, housekeeping should not be considered a one-time task that is achieved in a day. Instead, it is an on-going process which involves planning, managing and maintaining the practices put in place.

General care involves the 5 S's of good housekeeping which are Sort, Segregate, Sanitize, Standardise and Sustain. Implementing those practices into everyday workflow improves efficiency and safety as well as the quality of work that can be achieved in a well-structured setting.

Maintaining a high level of cleanliness should be one of the main priorities in our nursing home. By keeping areas tidy and equipment clean, a range of workplace hazards can be eliminated. Frequent waste disposal and removal of unused materials help with keeping the environment tidy and organized for everyone working or loving in the home.

Another crucial factor for good housekeeping is the maintenance of whole buildings, facilities, equipment and machinery. Efficient maintenance ensures that all equipment needed is working and in good condition. Broken or damaged doors and windows for example can make a workplace look neglected besides posing a health hazard.

Going hand in hand with the general maintenance is fire safety practice. It is supported by the Fire Services Act 1981 which emphasizes the obligation on people in control of the premises in regard to preventing and also safely dealing with fire in case of an outbreak. All employees should be educated on the danger of fire and trained on how to behave in case of an emergency.

Manual and People Handling can not be avoided in our work environment and training all staff on commencement of employment is required by law. Knowing how to properly lift, move and store loads benefits the management of overall housekeeping practice. Before handling a patient, it is even more important to assess the patient themselves, the environment and yourself to prevent harm and serious injury.

To minimize the risk of chemical, hazardous materials affecting our staff or residents, they should be stored correctly in the first place. In addition to keeping areas neat and organized, proper storage as per instructions on the label provided keeps everyone using the materials safe.

The same applies to any equipment or machinery used in the workplace. All should be maintainedaccording to the manufacturer's instructions. Those are certified guidelines to ensure proper working order in the safest way possible.

Upholding a consistent and accurate system of documentation is just as crucial as it is beneficial. All rules, guidelines, statements and assessments have to be documented and thus can be made available as resources when needed.

Providing training for all employees is fundamental to good housekeeping. Staff need to have access to information about equipment or products they are expected to use. They should be educated on all important principles of safety and health at work and given the opportunity to refresh their knowledge throughout their employment.

To establish good housekeeping practices in our workplace, employees need to be provided with clear policies, procedures and guidelines on what is expected and how to achieve those goals. Introducing checklists into areas like cleaning or using machinery promotes safety by ensuring safe routines are followed by everyone. Having set guidelines also guarantees a consistent response across the company in dealing with certain situations.

There are several national and international guidelines regarding safety and health in the workplace that need to be adhered to by the employer. Strict regulations apply to PPE for example. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 provides information about what type of activities require PPE on a national basis. Then there are the European Union Regulations 2018 that control compliance with safety and health requirements for PPE on an international basis.

It is essential to carry out compliance audits regularly to maintain the high standard of health and safety procedures in place. Through this evaluation, employee's and resident's welfare is ensured which in return safeguards the company itself. Furthermore, the audit examines compliance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and assesses the efficiency of all policies and procedures.

The last component of good housekeeping is the use of reporting systems. Through detailed reports progress and trends can be tracked which improves future planning and decisionmaking. Accidents and dangerous occurrences must be reported to the authority in line with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Regulations 2016. The time limit for reporting specific kinds of accidents has to be adhered to.

Seven risk assessments with control measures

Conclusion

This report is presented to the Committee to inform about safety and health practices at work and point out hazards that have been identified in our nursing home. I will conclude with a plan of action on how to control each hazard and prevent them from appearing again in the future.

After pointing out the roles and responsibilities of the employer and employee under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, understanding the principles of good housekeeping and becoming aware of the risk the above hazards pose in our working environment, I hope to have drawn attention to the importance of health and safety at work.

The hazards that were assessed can be put into the following groups of manual and people handling, hygiene and infection prevention and lastly accidents. Incorrect manual and especially in this environment people handling puts the carers and residents at high risk of injury where severity ranges from minor all the way up to major injuries. Poor food handling, poor hand hygiene and lack of use of PPE all contribute to an increased risk of spreading bacteria or infections across the nursing home. Awareness needs to be raised promptly in regard to accidents including slips, trips and falls. Obvious trip hazards and spillages left ignored pose a high risk to everyone but specifically residents where a fall could be lethal.

Recommendations to include a Training Plan for staff

Keeping those common hazards in mind, I would like to propose a training plan to raise awareness, inform and work towards prevention of potential hazards in the future. All staff should be briefed on the risk assessments that were undertaken in this report. By drawing attention to the existing problems, staff can be encouraged to work towards a better health and safety practice and elimination of those risks.

As additional support for our staff, height-adjustable beds will be replacing any old variants that were making hard for carers to work at a safe height. These will increase comfort for the residents correspondingly.

To completely remove the risk of falls caused by loose cords and cables, all rooms will have to undergo a maintenance check where unneeded electronics will be removed and existing cables concealed.

Introducing a new cleaning plan for dining areas along with new accessible cleaning equipment will avoid spillages being left on the floor and thereby eliminate the risk of slipping.

A new colour code will be established for kitchen appliances and equipment allowing for easier separation of meats, fish and vegetables. This will prevent both cross-contamination and spread of bacteria through the food.

Training in proper hygiene practices and infection prevention procedures as well as manual and people handling must be updated and useful resources made easily accessible for staff to stay informed moving forward.

References

Ccohs.ca. 2021. (none). [online] Available at:

[Accessed 23 January 2021].

Health & Safety Handbook. 2021. Advantages of workplace policies – and which ones you need. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 February 2021].

Health and Safety Authority. 2021. Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. [online] Available at:

[Accessed 23 January 2021].

Peninsula Ireland. 2021. Health and Safety Audit | Peninsula Ireland. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 February 2021].

Safetyandhealthmagazine.com. 2021. Practice good housekeeping in the workplace. [online] Available at: [Accessed 28 January 2021].

PowerPoint slides provided by tutor during lessons from 19 January 2021 to 9 February 2021