Legislation

Question 1

Legislation

Answer 1

• Legislation is put in place to ensure that everyone’s health, safety and security is safeguarded
• including those who live in, work in and visit health, social care and child care settings

Question 2

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Answer 2

• Key legislation. Basis for all other health and safety regulations and guidelines.
• Establishes Health & Safety Executive (HSE) as regulator for the health and safety and welfare of people in work settings in UK
• establishes the key duties and responsibilities of all employers and employees in work setting
• Provide a safe place of work. Makes sure that premises are up to standard:
  
  • provide safe equipment.
  • staff are properly trained.
  • carry out risk assessments.
  • provide proper facilities.
  • make sure that a competent person to oversee health and safety.

Question 3

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

Answer 3

• places duties on employers to carry out and implement risk assessment of the HS&S of their employees and others who live and work in the setting
• requires work setting to have arrangement in place this includes putting competent people to manage health, safety and security as well as emergency procedures
• it requires employers to give information, training and supervision so people can be carried out safely
• example: controlling the keeping and use of explosive or highly flammable or dangerous substances.

Question 4

Food Safety Act 1990

Answer 4

• requires good personal hygiene to be maintained when working with food so that is safe to eat
• requires that records are kept of where food is from so that It can be traced if needed
• it requires that any food that is unsafe is removed and an incident report completed.
• Examples:
  
  • remove anything from food or treat food in any way which means it would not be damaging to the health of people eating it.
  • the food that businesses serve or sell is of the nature, substance or quality which consumers would expect

Question 5

Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995

Answer 5

• requires food safety hazards are identified.
• food safety controls are in place, maintained and reviewed.
• the environment where food is prepared or cooked are kept clean and in good condition
• raw meat and ready-to-eat products must be prepared on separate chopping boards to prevent cross-contamination

Question 6

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

Answer 6

• makes employers avoid hazardous manual handling tasks (the transporting or supporting of a person or object by hand or bodily force) where possible and assess those that cannot be avoided
• requires employers to cut down or reduce risk associated with manual handling tasks
• employers to provide information, training and supervision about safe moving and handling.

Question 7

Reporting of Injuries, Disease and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013

Answer 7

• requires employers to report and keep records for three years of work - related accidents that causes death and serious injuries called “reportable injuries”, diseases and dangerous occurrence (ie incidents with potential to cause harm).
• it requires work setting to have procedures in place for reporting injuries. diseases and incidents
• requires employers to provide information and training on reporting injuries, diseases and incidents
• there are 7 categories reportable under RIDDOR which are:
  
  • deaths of any person at work
  • injuries causes by workplace accidents (eg amputation, serious burns)
  • occupational diseases
  • biological agents
  • specified injuries to workers
  • dangerous occurrences
  • gas incidents.

Question 8

Data Protection Act 1998

Answer 8

• protects the security of personal information
• requires information to be accurate and up to date
• requires information to be kept secure
• background:
  
  • it was developed to control how personal or customer information is used by organisations or government bodies
  • it protects people and lays down rules about how data which is about people can be used
  • the DPA also applies to information or data stored on a computer or an organised paper filing system which data is about living people.

Question 9

Control of Substance Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002

Answer 9

• makes employers to carry out a risk assessment to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substance.
• makes employers to have procedures in order to ensure a safe place for working with hazardous substances.
• requires employers to provide information, training and supervision so that work activities can be carried out safely.
• you can prevent or reduce workers exposure to hazardous substances by:-finding out what the health hazards are; deciding how to prevent harm to health (risk assessment)

Question 10

Civil Contingencies Act 2004

Answer 10

• sets out how organisations must work together to plan and respond to local and national emergencies
• sets out how organisations, such as emergency services, LA and health bodies, can work together and share information
• requires risk assessments to be undertaken and an emergency plan to be put in place.

It imposes a clear set of roles and responsibilities on those organisations with a role to play in preparing for and responding to emergencies.

Question 11

Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015

Answer 11

• sets out how health and adults SC providers must share information about a person’s care with other H&C professionals so that safe and effective care can be provided
• H&SC organisations to use a consistent identifier (a tool that can be used to match people to their records, eg an NHS number) when sharing information about a person’s care.
• reduces the risk of harm and abuse by putting in provision for removing people convicted of certain offences from the registers kept by the regulatory bodies for H&SC professionals (eg stopping those convicted of sex offences working with children)