Task 1 Guidance

Your supervisor at a setting where you are a carer has asked you to produce guidance on hazards to give to new carers in the setting as part of their induction.

You will have the opportunity to explain the hazards in a small group discussion.

You need to submit brief notes to support your discussion.

You need to ensure that you explain hazards that might arise in Health and Social Care. You are advised to use the following headings as framework for your work.

* Briefly introduce the setting you are basing your guidance on. Focus on any one of the following: residential care, hospital, day care, pre-school, infant school, childminder, clinic, surgery, any location where an individual receives care services (including in own home or the community).

I would advise that you think about your work experience so that you have a clearer idea of the details.

Within this section you will also need to include a public environment. Explain any one of the following; retail area, swimming pool, public park, sports ground, beach, transport.

You could bring this in by thinking about a trip out from the setting you have chosen above.

* Briefly introduce a range of staff in your chosen setting. You need to include these 3 groups * care staff (based in setting, visiting setting) * support staff (e.g. caterers, cleaners, administrative) * visitors (e.g. relatives, friends, volunteers)

* Briefly introduce potential service users in your chosen setting. These could be any one of the following; patients, older people, people with learning disabilities, young people, young children, babies, those with physical disability or sensory impairment, people with mental health issues.

* Explain the potential hazards in your chosen setting, include * physical environment * equipment * infections * substances * working conditions * working practices * security systems

* Explain the possibility of harm and abuse in your chosen setting. You need to include any four of the following: abuse, injury, acquired infection, psychological distress, inappropriate care planning, exposure to danger, stress.

In this section also explain potential risk of loss of/damage to belongings or premises

You will need to submit supporting notes. The framework on the following page might help

Potential Framework for Task 1

Explain the setting | The setting is a preschool, it is for children from 0-3 before they go into school, they help to teach children the basics like colours, small/ short words, and how to use a knife and fork, they also have different toys in which they can use for different activities to help the children learn to be independent and work with other children, it's for people who are in college and need to leave their children in the pre-school, it consists of two rooms for the children to play in and be cared for in, they have a room for toilets and washing hands and then their office and the kitchen. | Introduce the staff in the setting. Include staff from all three of these groups. | Care staff (based in setting, visiting setting)There was on average around 6-7 members of staff a day in to be able to have a good adult to child ratio, they had two managers, one for each room, the baby room and the childrens room and the rest were split into the two rooms depending on the days they were in, they helped to look after the children and make sure they were safe and helped to teach them things during the day | | Support staff (e.g. caterers, cleaners, administrative)The staff also had certain members who would be in charge of the cleaning and food, they would all have a go at different jobs on different days, as they were on a rota, in general it was the two managers of the practice that did the administrative work however sometimes others did chip in if quick jobs needed doing | | Visitors (e.g. relatives, friends, volunteers) there weren't as such many visitors however their were people popping in to see the staff at times and at the end and start of the day, parents would come and pick their children up so they would sometimes stay and chat to the carers of the children or play for a bit and see what their children had been doing all day, there was also volunteers and other people there on work experience that were their to work with the children and assist the carers to teach and look after the children | Introduce the service users in your setting | The parents and children were the service users in this setting, they use the service so that the children can be looked after in a safe and happy environment, that they will enjoy and learn in whilst they can go of to college or work and not have to worry that their children are in any harm | Explain a public environment that service users may go to from your setting | A public setting that the service users may use whilst using this service is a public park, the carers may take the children on a day out so that they have a different scene | Explain the potential hazards in your chosen setting. Include an explanation for all of these. | Physical environment The children in this environment will have many potential hazards, for example they could fall and hurt themselves on the objects in the park, there are also things such as climbing frames that may have big hight drops from them that the children could fall from, there are gates and fences that the children could get their fingers or hands stuck in and possibly things such as rubbish or objects that are around that the children could cut themselves on | | EquipmentThe equipment in the park could also be a potential hazard, they could fall off high climbing frames, or get hair or themselves caught in rope climbing frames, they may also get their fingers trapped in things that move when they're on it, the children may also hit other children with it and cause them harm | | Infections the children may be prone to infections in the parks, this could be because there are many other people who go in there and they may have had illnesses or infections themselves that can easily be passed on to the children especially if they have cuts, the children can also get infections but injuring themselves in the park and grazing skin this could be because they could get dirt in it causing the wound to be infected | | Substances There aren't really any substances that the children could get from a park, apart from if someone else has left something lying around from when they have been in there and the children pick it up. If other people had been in the park before hand, there good be illegal substances or alcohol left there in which the children could get hold of, if they pick these up and drink them or cut themselves on them they could be at risk of infections or being severely ill. | | Working conditions The conditions may cause hazards because the carers of the children may not be able to have the same resources as they would if they were back in the nursery so it will not be as easy to care for the children, the carers in the park can also not keep them self as clean as they would in a nursery and so they may pass infections on to the children | | Working practices the carers will not be able to carry out the same practice for the children as they are not in there normal setting for example if a child falls over they can not clean a wound the same as they would in the nursery as they do not have the resources to do so | | Security systemsThe children are not as secure in the park, there are no locked doors or stair gates so they can just walk out, the children have the potential to get lost or be taken easier by someone they don't know, in a pre-school there would be locked doors and everyone that comes in is greeted by the nursery nurses, so that they know the only people who are coming in are people to pick up children, this cannot happen in a park and so the children are more able to possible get out of the park and wander off or be taken out of the park by someone that isn’t know | Explain the possibility of harm and abuse in your chosen setting. (Explain at least four of the examples included here) | Abuse | | Injurythere is a big possibility that the children could be injured in the nursery, for example they children could fall over and hit their heads on units or tables, they could trap there fingers in doors or stair gates, they could fall over something outside and hurt themselves on the hard floors, other children could throw stuff at them and give them an injury | | Acquired infectionThere's a possibility that the children will gain an infection, this could be if a wound is not cleaned properly or the nursery and the children are not kept clean after dinner times or outdoor play | | Psychological distress | | Inappropriate care planningthe children may be exposed to half if the care planning of them is not correct, for example if a child needs medicine or has certain food allergies so has to have a special diet, if these are not reviewed properly and the appropriate care plan is not put in place the child may have allergic reactions or be made worse with and illness than they already are | | Exposure to dangerThe children may be exposed to danger in many situations, for example there are toys on shelves that hang over the edge they could fall down onto a child, there are also big heavy doors that aren't always closed as carefully as they should be and the children could get caught in them, the taps also get hot in the nursery so the children could burn themselves on them easily if they are not watched | | Stress | Explain the potential hazard of loss of/damage to one of the following | BelongingsBelongings could be lost by the children as they tend to put things down and forget about them and another child could pick it up, they can also get broken easily especially as there are lots of children who will all want to play or are interested in the child's belongings | | Premises |