Worker attitudes represent the biggest obstacle for social-care professionals in implementing health and safety policies, according to research by the National Association for Safety and Health in Care Services (NASHiCS).
The Association e-mailed 300 professionals in the sector last month and asked them about their health and safety challenges. More than a fifth (21 per cent) highlighted employee attitudes, compared with just over a tenth (11 per cent) citing operational processes and practice. Under 5 per cent highlighted staff skills and training.€ﾨ
Almost a third (32 per cent) suggested that financial resources devoted to health and safety are being reduced. Nearly one in ten (9 per cent) do not provide accident statistics, and a fifth do not provide accident-investigation reports for senior managers.€ﾨ
Fire safety tops the list of health and safety concerns (57 per cent) for social-care professionals, followed by medication errors (19 per cent); challenging behaviour (14 per cent); legionella (5 per cent); scalding (2 per cent); and nutrition (2 per cent).€ﾨ
“This research suggests some interesting but worrying trends,” commented Chris Jackson, national chairman of NASHiCS. “First, that employee attitude problems rate so high in comparison with possibly more obviously ‘fixable’ problems, such as operational processes and skills training. This suggests possible weaknesses in both recruitment processes and people management, and a need for further questioning of the efficiency of these systems.€ﾨ €ﾨ
“Second, that there appears to be an information gap in many organisations, where senior management are not receiving appropriate front-line reports regarding health and safety incidents. Not only that, but a further finding is that less than a fifth of CEOs/directors are involved in back-to-the-floor visits — again, suggesting that they may be lacking knowledge of the ‘real’ situation and are relying on reports that are short of important details.”€ﾨ €ﾨ
Jackson also said it is a worry that malnutrition ranks low on the list of concerns, indicating a need for greater understanding of the way in which nutrition impacts on well-being and health and safety.
