Introduction

The health and safety of both our service users and the staff of our subcontractors is fundamental to the Company. The Practice is committed to minimising the risk of workplace injury or illness for our staff and patients. The Practice does this by:

• Recognising the value and importance of our people and ensuring we all play a part in creating a safe and healthy working environment for ourselves, those we work with, and the public
• Establishing an environment and culture that drives the prevention of injury and ill health
• Providing our staff with the right balance of knowledge, understanding and skills to enable all work to be carried out safely
• Providing a clear and effective health and safety management system and delivering against challenging targets
• Continuously improving our health and safety culture and performance.

We recognise that the benefits of good safety management to be:

• Safety for staff, contractors and our patients
• Reduced number of accidents and ill-health
• Protection of our best interests and reputation
• Compliance with legal duties
• Happier, better-motivated staff
• Greater operating efficiency.

The Practice complies with all health and safety legislation and this policy has been created to meet the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, section 2(3).

Our health and safety policy will be reviewed and possibly revised in the light of experience, or because of operational or organisational changes and/or annually.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the Practice’s staff perform their duties in full accordance with our commitment to health and safety.

Audience

The audience of this policy is the Practice’s staff, local NHS and health agency teams, patients and any other local stakeholder which we may liaise with when performing optical services.

Distribution plan

This policy is held by the Practice’s management and all our staff are required to be familiar with, and utilise, it. New staff are required to understand its contents as a part of their induction.

Training plan and support

The Practice’s management and health and safety lead identity training issues with staff and develop support programmes as required. This can be either individually or with the whole team and takes in induction training and job specific training. We carry out consultations with employees to obtain their feedback and suggestions on health and safety issues. Training records are retained.

Roles and responsibilities

Our named health and safety lead with overall responsibility for health and safety is David Wyndham. The health and safety lead is responsible for ensuring that staff are sufficiently trained and are aware of their responsibilities. The health and safety lead will:

• Undertake consultation with employees on health and safety matters
• Undertake supervision and training of new members of staff in health and safety matters
• Identify when maintenance is needed, draw up maintenance procedures, reporting problems purchasing of new equipment
• Ensure safe handling and use of substances (if applicable).

All staff are responsible for ensuring they perform their duties safely and with due regard to the health and safety of their patients, their colleagues and themselves. Staff must ensure that they:

• Are responsible for acting in a safe manner whilst at work
• Take reasonable care of our own safety
• Take reasonable care of the safety of others affected by what we do or fail to do
• Not interfere with or misuse, intentionally or recklessly, anything provided in the interests of safety
• Co-operate so that we can fulfil our legal duties e.g. comply with our safety rules
• Set a good personal example in relation to health and safety
• Follow the requirements of our health and safety policy and management system.

Process/ Procedure

We employ the following processes/procedures for elements of health and safety securitisation:

Accidents: All accidents should be reported by staff to the health and safety lead. Records of accidents will be kept by the health and safety lead and a member of staff will be trained in first aid. The health and safety lead requires, arranges and retains record of health and safety incidents. They explain to staff where first aid equipment is stored and the appointed person/first aider for first aid.

Access: Staff are required to keep passageways clear of obstacles, particularly cables.

Electrical equipment: Staff must not tamper with electrical equipment or attempt to make repairs. All faults should be reported to the health and safety lead who will report it to a competent person to rectify. Sockets should not be overloaded. Personal equipment should not be used in the office.

Fire hazards: The Practice conducts fire risk assessments and checks on escape routes, fire extinguishers, alarms and evacuation procedures. Evacuation points are clearly displayed to staff and patients. Staff should be familiar with emergency procedures.

Hazards: Staff should report potential hazards to the health and safety lead.

Information: The Health and Safety Law Poster will be displayed, or the equivalent leaflets will be issued in the Practice.

Risk assessment: A risk assessment is carried out to identify and list health and safety risks and action needed to remove/control any risks. The staff member responsible is noted as is the timetable for review. We list our health and safety risks internally and ensure that all staff are aware of these. Risks are assessed in accordance with the Practice’s Risk and Issue Management Policy.

Safe handling and use of substances (if applicable): The Practice identifies who is responsible for undertaking control of substances hazardous to health assessments, informing employees and reviewing assessments. Staff members who are not responsible for handling hazardous substances are not permitted to do so unless specifically instructed otherwise.

Safe plant and equipment: The Practice identifies when maintenance on equipment is needed, holds a list of maintenance procedures, and reporting lines in the event of potentially dangerous equipment.

Waste: Prevention, segregation, handling, transport and disposal of waste will be managed so as to minimise the risks to the health and safety of staff and patients (please see the Practice’s Environmental Management System for more information).

Workstation assessment: The health and safety lead should ensure that staff are comfortable with their workstations. Staff surveys are carried out and the health and safety lead will help resolve any issues flagged.

Monitoring of compliance and effectiveness of implementation

The health and safety lead monitors workplace conditions and safe working practices. They also monitor staff implementation of health and safety implementation.

NHS England maintains a Safety Alert Broadcast System (SABS). The Company will ensure that any appropriate action has been taken in response to a SAB. For effectiveness, we will send an acknowledgement that the alert has been received and any appropriate action has been taken.

Review

This policy will be reviewed annually from the initial approval date by David Wyndham & Branch managers.