The Manor House - Accident Procedure
Policy regarding accidents
Introduction
Accidents will happen but some accidents are preventable.
The home recognises its responsibility to ensure that all reasonable precautions are taken to provide and maintain living and working conditions which are safe, healthy and compliant with all statutory requirements and codes of practice. To this end the home complies with Standard 38 - Safe Working Practices of the National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People, which relates to the degree to which the registered manager of a home ensures that service users and staff are protected from health and safety hazards in the home. This includes the prevention of accidents such as trips, slips and falls.
However, the home recognises that even in the safest of working environments accidents are, from time to time, inevitable. The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 requires employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all of their employees as far as is reasonably practicable. As part of this commitment employers must by law notify certain categories of accidents, specified cases of ill health and specified dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the local authority (LA) to comply with the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). This is necessary so that the HSE can determine trends and patterns in workplace accidents and put in place legislation and guidelines that will safeguard workers all over the UK. It also helps the home to determine local patterns and causes of accidents so that it can ensure that preventative measures are in place to avoid a recurrence. Therefore, in this home, all accidents, incidents and 'near misses' must be recorded and reported to the management.
Aims
To reduce as much as humanly possible the risk of accidents occurring to residents and staff. With regard to residents we recognise that excessive concern with safety could lead to infringement of personal rights.
Accidents that do happen are dealt with effectively the home complies fully with RIDDORAll accidents and incidents involving injury to staff, service users or visitors are reported and recorded, no matter how minor
All reported accidents or incidents are fully investigated the results and recommendations from investigations are fully implemented to prevent any recurrence of such incidents.
Actions
Preventing Accidents
The occurrence of accidents within the home will be minimised by:
ensuring that regular health and safety risk inspections and assessments are carried out and that any actions identified therein are acted upon to reduce risk as far as is possible
Ensuring that staff are trained to be vigilant and recognise hazards that might lead to a fall, slip or trip and act immediately to remove the hazard
Ensuring that all staff are trained to competently perform their duties with due regard to safety
Ensuring that all equipment used in the home is safe, tested, maintained and appropriate for its use
Ensuring that lighting is adequate in all parts of the home
Ensuring that essential maintenance is carried out in the home to an adequate and safe standard
Ensuring that staff are trained to clear spillages of liquids up as quickly as possible and to mark sections of floor that are wet to prevent access.