BTEC National Diploma- Unit 3 Risk Assessments Learning Objective- Be able to implement a risk assessment

A risk assessment is a way of measuring how safe any building or activity is. They are a legal requirement that all Health and Social Care services have to perform in order to measure how likely risk is and then implement ways to avoid the risk causing harm. Buildings, events, days out, journeys and the day to day running of any company all require various risk assessments to measure how likely harm is. Risk assessments are usually done by the site manager or Health and Safety officer. There are many different formats that a risk assessment can take. Most companies create their own chart which lists the risks and then state what actions they will do to avoid the risk becoming serious. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that there are 5 main steps to risks assessment; 1. Identify the hazards 2. Decide who might be harmed and how? 3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution 4. Record your findings and then implicate them 5. Review your assessment and review if necessary

Calculating the degree of risk Its important for all services to judge how likely a risk is to its clients. Usually this is done on a scale of 1-10. The higher the score, the more action is required. Controlling the risk This is where the action takes place, so if a company has found that too many people slip on a shiny surfaced floor, they would look towards changing the surface to a non-slip one, meaning that the likelihood of risk would reduce. Monitoring the risk This is a constant part of risk assessments. Once one has been done, they dont get left. All areas of a building have to monitored and checked to ensure that likelihood of risks does not increase. The monitoring usually takes place by the Health and Safety officer and staff. Reappraising the risk Risk assessments have to be updated on a regular basis to evaluate the likelihood of risk. Local authorities and inspectorates have the power to shut any service which fails to safeguard their clients, so its important risk assessments are updated often and they are available for inspection, should they be required. TASK 1 RISK Water on the floor Staff with no visible ID Exposed electric wires Untrained cleaners Staff working alone Medicines stored high up WHAT IS THE RISK?

Task 2-Case Study Comparison You are a Health and Safety Officer for the Hipperholme area. You are going to compare the likelihood of risk within 2 settings, HLHS and ABC Charity Shop. You have been provided with only half of the information you need to complete report, as HLHS have not provided you with a risk assessment. You need to carry out the following steps and submit your report to your manager Miss Dobson at 10am on Wednesday. 1. Create your own risk assessment form for HLHS. It is recommended you look over ABCs example and other alternatives on Google images. 2. Go and conduct your risk assessment of HLHS. 3. Look at both risk assessments and compare the 2 settings. 4. Produce a 2 page report on Word that includes the following; a. A brief explanation of each setting and its potential clients b. Both risk assessments (separate from the 2 pages) c. Calculate the degree of risk in both settings. d. Explain how well you believe each setting is controlling the risks e. Explain how well you believe each setting is monitoring the risks f. Did you find any evidence of the services reappraising the risks? g. Conclude by stating which service you think is safer and why?

BTEC National Diploma- Unit P3 Risk Assessments. Going further.

P1 Carry out a risk assessment in a health or social care setting Advice- Chose a service that you know or that is real. It may be suggested that you pick your voluntary placement or a local service e.g. your doctors. Create your own risk assessment form based on the examples weve seen in class and make sure you do at least 10 risks. M2 Assess the hazards identified in the health or social care setting Advice- Assess means judge. You need to look at each of the risks you identified in P1 and judge how likely they are to cause risk to clients or anyone else within the service. Its ok to elaborate and make some hazards sound worse than they actually are. The coursework police will not go to the service to check its a real hazard; its all about how you recognise what is a risk. D1 Make recommendations in relation to identified hazards to minimise the risks to the service user group Advice- Make your own suggestions as to how you can reduce each of your identified risk and make the service user safe. Focus on the age of people using your service.