Policy & Procedure Occupational Health & Safety. Purpose: Complete Nursing and Home Care work to ensure it provides a safe work environment for all its employees and relevant stakeholders in accordance with the Work Health & Safety Act or as referred to in Victoria as the OH&S legislation. This policy and procedure Occupational Health & Safety aims to outline the framework used by Complete Nursing and Home Care.to meet requirements including regulations standards and guidelines; and has the systems in place to monitor changes to these. Complete Nursing and Home Care have obligations to a proactive approach to the provision of a safe work environment Applies to: All customers and employees including subcontractors of Complete Nursing and Home Care are to comply with this policy and procedure Diversity: Complete Nursing and Home Care acknowledges the diverse communities in which we work and live. Complete Nursing and Home Care has an obligation under the Equal Opportunities Act and the Discrimination Act to be proactive in preventing any harm to individuals or associated groups in the cause of their work. Respectful CALD & LGBTI practices is expected by both the employee and the customer in the contract of care. It is the responsibility of both parties to identify and resource their CALD & LGBTI awareness needs. Complete Nursing and Home Care will support processes for increasing awareness and practices to ensure quality in the delivery of service.
Relevant Legislation: include however not limited to the following: OH&S Act 2004 & the WH&S Act 2011 Associations Incorporation Act 1987 Building Code of Australia 2007 Legislation governing the employment of staff and volunteers including: Fair Work Act 2009; income tax; superannuation; equal employment opportunity; workers compensation and injury management Aged Care Act 1997 and Principles Home and Community Care Act 1985 Community Care Common Standards Carers Recognition Act 2004 Privacy Act 1988 Nurses and Midwives Act 2006 Poisons Act 1964 and Poisons Regulations 1965 Fire and Emergency Regulations NHMRC 2010 Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare Commonwealth of Australia http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/cd33syn.htm Food Standards Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code Standard 3.3.1 Food Safety Programs for Food Service to Vulnerable Persons http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/ Specific funding requirements detailed in contracts with funders Equal Opportunity Act 2010 Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 Associated Risks: Complete Nursing and Home Care acknowledges that the communication of OH&S key responsibilities for employee safety poses significant risks. Lack of proactive approaches to the development and maintenance of safe work practices is a significant risk especially in infection control and Manual Handling. Lack of compliance with systems for reporting hazards and Incidents contributes to the OH&S risk for Complete Nursing and Home Care. Non-compliance with key regulations in the OH&S legislation including standards could result in fiscal, reputational and material harm to the company. 2
Monitoring of compliance poses the biggest risk to Complete Nursing and Home Care who aims to mitigate these risks by using a number of strategies but not limited to the following: o Developed Policy and Procedures including work instructions. o Quality Improvement plan and review processes. o Recruitment and credentialing processes such as position descriptions, structured interviews & police checks o Orientation of staff o Scheduled training sessions for employees undertaking high risk activities such as infection control and manual handling. o Hazard and Incident reporting mechanisms e.g. formatted documents o OH&S working group and inclusion of standard agenda items at all meetings. Resources: Worksafe website OH&S Act 2004 including standards and guidelines Hand washing techniques Hazard & Incident reporting forms Complaints and compliments form Consent to release information form Customer alert in their records. Hazard & Incident report registry Risk registry Improvement Plan Manager s responsibilities: Managers of Complete Nursing and Home Care has a responsibility to have a working understand of the OH&S legislative requirements for them and their direct reports role in the enterprise. It is the responsibility of the manager to respond in a timely way to any reports of breaches or hazards which may result in Complete Nursing and Home Care being deemed non- compliant. Definitions: Work Health and Safety is the updated term used in the revised legislation governing safety in the work place. In Victoria this term is not consistently used as a replacement for OH&S; however has the same meaning. 3
Duty of Care: is the legal obligation owed to another in the performance of an action which requires adhering to standards of care. Breaches of the care standards may deem the enterprise and employee negligent. Evacuation Procedure: In the event of an emergency such as fire, flood, threats of violence including Bomb threat, there are a set of specific actions required to safely evacuate all people in the immediate vicinity. Negligence: is the legal term used to determine a lack of adherence to standards and resulting in harm to another Work instructions: are the actions prescribed to perform specific functions of the enterprise. Hazard: is something or an action that could cause harm. Eg boxes left in a walk way Incident: is something or action that has caused harm. Eg person has fallen over the boxes left in a walk way. Standard precautions: is the term used to identify the specific management of infections that pose a lower health risk for the general population. These include use of gloves and masks for airborne and infectious material. Additional precautions is the term used to identify the specific management of infection that could have a catastrophic effect on the general population. This includes managing isolation, specific clothing, laundering and reporting to the health authorities. Legislations: Legislation is the laws or rules made through Parliament and include regulations and delegated legislation made under Acts of Parliament Regulations: Are rules endorsed by Government or by a governing body of professionals. Standards/codes: Are a set of written specifications and procedures aimed at informing all who use them to operate in a consistent and safe way. Guidelines: Are a set of recommended rules to support the framework of practice and don t have negative compliance restraints. CRM system is the electronic customer information data management holding all demographic and history of care for customers of the enterprise. MSDS: is a document containing important information about a hazardous chemical (which may be hazardous substance and/or dangerous goods) and states: a hazardous substance's product name the chemical and generic name of certain ingredients the chemical and physical properties of the hazardous substance health hazard information precautions for safe use and handling Procedures: All procedures have a review system and require all employees to maintain their currency of compliance to these via a sign off process. 4
o List of Procedures in the following topics will be included in this OH&S policy: Emergency evacuation Duty of Care Bullying & Harassment Infection control Training Use of Vehicles Manual Handling Managing Challenging Behaviours Reporting Hazards and Incidents Smoking Alcohol and Drug use Identifying & Reporting Hazards & Incidents Emergency Evacuation: In the event of an emergency where imminent danger may cause harm to persons & buildings it is expected all people in the immediate area be evacuated this includes neighbours and pedestrians if relevant. An emergency may result from a car accident, building, bush fire, flooding, threats of violence including a bomb, Chemical spills and electrical hazards. In the Head Office evacuation plans are located in each room. Evacuations plans for customers are located at or as near as possible to each exit. Each evacuation plan will identify the exits, map of the building, evacuation meeting point and location of any firefighting equipment. Call 000 or in areas with no mobile reception call 112, give address of the location & the cause of the emergency when contacting the relevant emergency services. During an emergency do not use the building lifts, only use the stairs. Planning customers exit from the building will occur when the OH&S home assessment is completed & when the care plan is reviewed. Report any evacuation on an Incident report form. Please refer to Emergency Evacuation policy and procedure. o Duty of Care: Each employee needs to understand their Duty of Care they owe to others in the course of their work. o E.g. personal care workers to understand best practice in the performance of personal care, using their training and work instructions. o Reporting any changes to a customer s physical and emotional state on the day it is observed. 5
o To work in accordance with the position description and not outside this, as this may cause harm. o To work in a way so as not to put others in danger such as safe manual handling and infection control practices. o Every role an employee performs in the enterprise; needs to meet a sets of standards or skills acquisition as defined by the specific registered body and/or the professional sector. o All employees are responsible for their own learning and demonstration of their skills acquisition in accordance with legislation, guidelines and work instructions. o Each employee is responsible for identifying and reporting Hazards and Incidents using specific templates as supplied on ProSims. o Employer to provide resources and systems of work to develop and maintain a safe environment for all stakeholders. Bullying and Harassment: As defined in the Worksafe guide to managing Bullying and Harassment in the workplace; bullying is characterised by persistent and repeated negative behaviour directed at an employee that creates a risk to health and safety. o Breaches to the legislation occur: when it has created a risk to an employee s (or another person s) health and safety, and the employer has failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to prevent and address it. o An employee has acted in a way that fails to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others at a workplace. Reporting of Bullying & Harassment behaviours require immediate response to reduce escalation of the problem. Report to your supervisor and or senior manager any issues regarding bullying and Harassment. Training/Professional development: o Employees: need to have relevant qualifications such as basic personal care skills; and/or be prepared to undertake training to meet the requirements of the role. o The employer is responsible for checking credentials of staff such as qualifications, referees and security requirements such as police checks. o It is the responsibility of the employee to understand the operating systems provided for them to perform their tasks. E.g. Electronic software, Lifting hoists, Reporting processes, Accessing the intranet and use of the Policy and Procedures o A schedule of training for relevant OH&S topics & for skills development is provided to all employees to maintain currency in legislative requirements. 6
o It is mandatory for all employees to attend annually the delivered relevant OH&S training, any out of pocket costs to attend are negotiable with managers. o Skills Training is open to all employees however is not mandated to attend and will be at the employees own cost; a certificate of attendance is provided. Infection control: All employees of Complete Nursing and Home Care are to have an understanding of the relevant areas of the National Infection Control guidelines especially standard precautions and additional precautions when working with customers. These include: Illness: Employees are required to be fit for work at all times. o At the first sign or symptom of a contagious health condition such as cold, flu or gastroenteritis an employee is expected to stay away from customers until the end of the infectious cycle. o For Gastro infections it is 2 days post the presentation of symptoms. o For cold and flu conditions it is when there is no presentation of sneezing or a productive cough o Where employees have a non-productive cough the etiquette is to cough into your arm and not your hand to reduce cross infection. Hand Washing: Employees are expected to wash their hands in accordance with hand washing guidelines using warm water and soap and or use of hand sanitizer. o Hand washing is required upon entering & exiting the customer s home and when performing high infection control activities such as showering cooking and wound care. o Employees are expected to carry at their own cost hand sanitizer for situations with the customer where hand washing is not readily available. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) eg are gloves when providing personal care for the customer such as showering, dressing wounds, domestic duties including cooking and cleaning It is the responsibility of the customer to supply gloves for the worker to use. Aprons are to be used when cooking for customers. These are to be supplied and maintained by the employee at their cost. A fresh apron is to be used for each customer. Masks are to be used as an additional precaution as required by particular customers medical conditions and supplied by the customer. 7
Vehicles of the enterprise are used for the purpose of providing customers care especially the hoist fitted bus for those who require mobility support.the use of the enterprises vehicles is done so with the following conditions: o Employees seek permission for the use. o Employees hold a licence to drive them o Demonstrated competence in the use of the hoist in the bus. o Comply with the maintenance of the bus including the removal of any rubbish and clean-up of any spills. Equipment and cleaning materials are provided. o In the event of a car accident the driver is to complete the vehicle incident report that documents evidence of the other drivers licence and contact details. Refer to the Vehicle Incident Report provided in each enterprise vehicle. o Report any accidents regardless of any damage to your supervisor on the day of the incident. o The enterprise will schedule as per the warranty conditions maintenance and repairs as required, including the washing and servicing. o Where fault is with the employee for any damage to the vehicle the cost of the insurance excess is to be paid by the employee. Your Vehicle: is only used when permission is provided by management of the enterprise for the purpose of conducting work. You are required to: o Have a current drivers licence and be on green probation plates to transport one or more passengers. o Maintain your car is road worthy, and is registered with Road Traffic Authority. o You hold a full comprehensive car insurance. o You maintain your car in a clean and tidy state. Manual Handling: is the actions of lifting, pushing and pulling and one of the biggest risks to the enterprise for all employees and customers. Non-compliance to safe manual handling could result in a muscular skeletal injury and result in disciplinary action. o All employees are expected to have manual handling training and be assessed as being competent before they commence work with any customer. o The enterprise will provide a mandatory annual refresher training for employees. o There is a no lift policy for all customers unless mechanical support is provided. e.g slide sheets and hoists o Storage of items need to be placed no higher than shoulder height and determine the impact of weight when moving items. o Moving large and or weighty items require a trolley and/or more than one person 8
o Physical Restraint of customers is not a practice by employees supported by the enterprise. Any reports of noncompliance will result in disciplinary actions. Hazardous Chemicals: In the enterprise these are the substances used in everyday cleaning and office use and require adherence to manufacturer s conditions. o The storage and use of hazardous materials must comply with MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) which are stored for use in an emergency situations. o All employees are required to know what substances customers will provide for cleaning in accordance with the approved list of chemicals. (Refer to approved chemicals.) Smoking: is not tolerated in any of the enterprise buildings or Customer s homes. o Customers will be expected to refrain from smoking while an enterprise employee is providing care. o No smoking is allowed in enterprise or customers vehicles. o Designated smoking areas are identified at each site for smokers. Alcohol and drugs: No enterprise employee is permitted to use alcohol or illicit drugs during the course of their work. Non-compliance may result in discipline and or termination of employment. o Customers are also not permitted to use alcohol or illicit drugs while receiving a service from the enterprise. o Agreement for the specific use of alcohol for celebratory purposes is at the discretion of the enterprise CEO. Identifying and reporting Hazards and Incidents: Every employee of the enterprise is required to report any hazards and incidents using the templates for Hazard identification and Incident reporting. These are provided on Completenursing.com.au under Resources Forms. All timelines for reporting are identified and in accordance with funder specific contracts as provided below: Category 1: Hazards & Incidents are physical and or behavioural action that can or have caused significant and immediate harm to another and or the enterprise. o It includes catastrophic events such as Fire, Theft, Violence, Physical impairment, Death, Loss of income and Reputation. Reporting required immediately to enterprise management and no later than within 24 hours of a Cat 1 hazard and incident Funder notification also required - see contract for conditions. Category 2: Hazards & Incidents are physical and or behavioural actions that can or have caused temporary disruption to the workflow: o This may result in an injury or exacerbation of a known illness and impact on the enterprises reputation. 9
Reporting required immediately and within 48 hours of a Cat 2 hazard and incident to enterprise management. Funder notification also required - see contract for conditions. Category 3: Hazards & Incidents are physical and or behavioural actions that have minor impact on a person and or the enterprise. o These are readily eliminated at the point of identification and or impact e.g the removal of a small physical trip hazard located in a low traffic area. Incident resulting in a person falling over the hazard and requiring minor first aid treatment with no loss of days worked. Reporting required immediately and within a week of a Cat 1 hazard and incident to enterprise management. Document control: Date created Review Date Version Authorised: Person Responsible 2/4/15 April 2016 2 Ernita Songahid Claresta Jessy 10