Health and safety news
"Health and Safety is a responsibility that we all share, and as such we should all take responsible precautions to prevent ourselves and others from being involved in an accident or incident" Morgan Foster, Health & Safety Officer, Salford City Council
Care home owners convicted over scalding death
Two proprietors of a care home in Sussex have been fined £16000 each plus a total of £22560 in costs having admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1074 following the death of service user. aged 86, who sustained scald injuries after being immersed into a bath which had not been temperature checked by care assistants in November 2005.
CSCI guidance on qualified First Aiders
In June 2007 CSCI published revised guidance for care homes that provide first aid when people using their service need it.
CSCI are now advising that they want to take a more flexible approach when judging care providers against the National Minimum Standards which states: 'A qualified first aider should be available at all times'. They state that the right first aid provision, including appropriate qualifications for staff in any particular care setting, is best decided through a first aid risk assessment, completed by the provider. This should take into account:
- The needs of the service users
- How likely it is that first aid will be needed
- What kind of first aid is likely to be needed
If a care service provider decides not to complete an appropriate risk assessment to decide their service users first aid needs, CSCI will expect them to have someone who has undertaken a suitably approved first aid at work qualification, on duty at all times.
Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
The Ministry of Justice has published information
on The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which introduces a new offence across the
UK, for prosecuting companies and other organisations where there has been a gross failing, throughout
the organisation, in the management of health and safety with fatal consequences.
A
draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill was published in March 2005. This underwent pre-legislative scrutiny
by the Home Affairs and Work and Pensions Select Committees. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate
Homicide Bill was introduced into Parliament last July and received Royal Assent on 26 July 2007.
The Bill, related documents and progress through parliament
Care home company fined for breaching health and safety laws
A care home company in Hull was fined £17,000 in May 2007 for breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Regulation 5(1) of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (as amended) plus £4468.12 costs.
The offences relate to failing to ensure the health and safety of persons not in its employment, and for failing to ensure work equipment was adequately maintained, following an incident where a service user was lowered by a hoist into very hot water as the thermostatic mixing valve for the water had not been adequately maintained. This resulted in the service user sustaining serious injury and undergoing unsuccessful skin graft surgery which has led to a significant deterioration to her quality of life.
Europoean court supports UK safety laws
On 14 June 2007 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld one of the key elements of British health and safety law, the use of the phrase 'so far as is reasonably practicable' following the case brought by the European Commission (Case C127-05 European Commission v United Kingdom) which challenged the use of the phrase.
Accident/incident reporting
A recent research report by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has indicated that most reportable work accidents are not being reported.
The researchers found that just 33% of the accidents from the study at Royal Liverpool University Hospital were reported to the HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).
Importance of gardening for people with disabilities
According to research commissioned by the national charity Thrive gardening is more important to people with disabilities than to the average person. The research evaluates the levels of participation and interest in gardening among 500 individuals with a disability.
Results show that nearly nine out of ten (87%) respondents have a garden, over two-thirds of whom (68%) express interest in gardening. Three out of four (74%) claim that gardening has been beneficial to their health in some way.
This page was last updated on 18 April 2008
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