Workplace Health And Safety Risk Assessment Of Aegis Aged Care Centre

Workplace Hazards and Risks in Aged Care Centers

Human resources are the most crucial feature and assets of any given business. The success of any business depends on the effective utilization of human resources and safeguarding them within the workplace environment as it is directly related to organizational productivity (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). There are various policies and risk management procedures implemented by businesses within their workplace to prevent any hazard and keep the employees safe. Workplace safety is determined by identifying the potential hazards that could possibly harm, injure or damage property and human lives. This allows organizations to implement prevention measures that would minimise the risks associated with these hazards (Salvendy, 2012). A proper risk assessment allows organizations to evaluate health and safety at workplace as it becomes necessary to be keep the employees safe and reduce the possible factors that could harm anybody. Safe Work Australia helps in developing national policies that aim at improving work health and safety and providing compensation arrangements to workers across Australia (Australia, 2011). It is the responsibility of any organization to follow the WHS requirements that are listed in the WorkSafe Act of Australia (Australian Government, 2018). The Act provides a general overview of responsibilities of employees and businesses across Australia to maintain workplace safety and health. The regulations under the Act lists out the standards that are needed to be met to avoid hazards and risks at workplace. Regulating agencies are appointed to inspect workplaces and provide help to business to make them understand about the health and safety laws.

In aged care centres, there can be many hazardous incidents leading to compromising the workplace safety. Although many standards and rules are set to maintain workplace safety and health, there can be claims for injuries to workers. This report will examine the work health and safety risk assessment of Aegis Aged Care centre located in Melbourne (Aegis Care Online, 2018a). The report will highlight the common hazards in aged care facilities, risks associated with it, and measures to prevent these hazards by Aegis Age Care.

Aegis Ellenvale is located in the town of Busselton in Western Australia proving improved care, better quality of life and living environment to the residents of the town and the people living within the workplace. This aged care aims at selecting their employees basing upon their skills and qualifications. The respect, dedication and loyalty received from the employees contributes to better serving the people of the town and provide a safe working environment (Aegis Care Online, 2018b). Although, there are various measures taken to prevent in hazard that can possibly harm the health and safety of employees as well as people living within the workplace premises. There can possible occupational hazards at an aged acre centre for employees related to lifting and moving patients from one place to another. The risks can be involved with handling equipment such as wheelchairs, trolleys, beds and mattresses. There is also a risk behind occupational violence between the employees as each might have a different mind-set and ideology on things. Work-related stress is also an important factor compromising workplace health and safety. There can be cases of harassment and bullying within the workplace environment which requires immediate attention (Work Safe, 2018). 

Workplace Health and Safety Measures by Aegis Ellenvale

Aegis Ellenvale lists out certain responsibilities and duties which it follows in interest of maintaining workplace health and safety of its employees. Aegis provides specialists who give advice to the management and its employees with regards to regulatory frameworks. Specialists also ensure that employees follow the policies laid under the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) and lists out the procedures complying with the regulatory framework. It is ensured that proper measures are taken, monitored and reviewed as per the WHS policy and later develop required strategies and formulate plan of action (Terry, Lê, Nguyen & Hoang, 2015). Aegis tries to identify the possible hazards and investigate the incidents and accordingly report them as soon as possible. The trends in the hazardous events are also monitored and reviewed to later mitigate with the risks arising out of them. Aegis provides consultative mechanisms in the workplace in order to encourage safe working practices at workplace and manage a system of risk control. The policies are needed to be adhered by the employees of Aegis and follow the industry trends and changes that might impact working of Aegis.

Aegis also ensures that employees feel and safe within the workplace premises and develop positive relationship with co-workers and people coming to facility to receive services. The employees need to have knowledge on injury management practices and claim for compensation of any occupational hazard in workplace. Aegis deals with the best practices for its injured workers and providing them practical assistance to mitigate such risks in advance. Aegis follows the risk assessment process to analyse the risks and hazards in their workplace and manage risk management control (Aegis, 2018).

Workplace health and safety refers to ensuring health and safety measures for employee, employers, visitors and volunteers working within the premises of the workplace. It is often referred as Occupational Health Safety which means hazards caused during working in the workplace (Robson, et. al., 2012). Assessment of risks helps in creating a safe working environment for the employees. It is the legal responsibility of any business owner to implement safe practices in their workplace.

TASK AGED CARE CENTERS	HAZARDS	ASSOCISTED RISKS	EXISTING RISK CONTROL	CURRENT RISK RATING	ADDITIONAL CONTROL REQUIRED	RESIDUAL RISK RATING
Support to patients	Hazards from lifting and moving patients. Manually lifting patients can cause risk to employees. Manually handling hazardous materials in workplace.	The risks associated with the providing support to patients by manually lifting them can cause strain in shoulders and back. The same applies in case of manual handling of furniture and heavy objects.	The existing risk control measures are educating the employees on risk management.	Medium	The employees should be given an opportunity of consulting their health issues to senior authorities. They should be aware of the safety measures while lifting heavy objects.	4
Occupational violence	Occupational hazards can cause serious injuries to body parts and lead to damaging any vital part of the body.	The risks associated with occupational violence at workplace is physical injury, can lead to dislocation of bones and rupture any vital body part.	At Aegis aged center, employees are trained to follow the regulations laid under the Workplace Health and Safety Act. This helps educating employees to behave in a civilized way inside the workplace premises.	High	As an additional requirement, employees should be recruited accordingly.	3
Work-related stress	Work-related stress can affect the efficiency of employees as they are in charge of taking acre of the patients. This may lead to errors in work.	Stress can cause tension in the minds of the employees. This can also result in health issues of employees.	The management of Aegis is concerned about its employees and helps them to reduce their stress by giving regular leaves and breaks.	Medium	The management should implement measures to reduce the stress of the employees. This can also be done by providing recreational programs and scheduled breaks for employees in between their work.	4
Bullying and harassment.	Bullying and harassment is a serious hazard for employees and the patients in the aged care center. Harassment can cause mental and physical damage and hamper the safety of employees.	The associated risks are mental and physical harm, loss of property, endangering the lives of co-workers and patients.	The employees should be monitored on the basis of their conduct and behavior with co-workers and patients. A risk free and healthy environment is built. Issues related to any notable incident is reported.	Low	The employers should hire people whose conduct in their past records.	4

Conclusion

In the current scenario, each workplace is distinct and different from the other. The quality of a workplace is assessed by way it treats its employees. It success depends on the creation of a healthy and safe working environment for employees as well as a warm setting for the people coming to avail the services. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure the safety of its employees by implementing policies to ensure the same. On the other hand, it becomes a responsibility of employees to follow these policies to be safe and healthy while operating in the workplace. The strategies implemented should align with the objectives of the organization and benefit the interests of the employees too. Addressing the possible hazards that cause physical and mental damage to the employees should be assessed first and focus on implementing required measures to avoid the risks associated with the hazards. Protecting the interests and ensuring safety of people should be the prime focus of every organization which will add value to the workplace, lives of the people, and in the businesses. 

References

Aegis Care Online. (2018a). Aegis Aged Care. Retrieved from https://www.agedcareonline.com.au/residential-aged-care/facilities/aegis-aged-care 

Aegis Care Online. (2018b). Aegis Ellenvale. Retrieved from https://www.agedcareonline.com.au/residential-aged-care/facilities/aegis-ellenvale 

Aegis. (2018). Workplace Health and Safety Officer. Retrieved from https://aegisagedcare.applynow.net.au/jobs/Aegis1-workplace-health-and-safety-officer 

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Australia, S. W. (2011). Compendium of workers’ compensation statistics Australia 2008-09. Canberra: Safe Work Australia, 24.

Australian Government. (2018). Health & Safety. Retrieved from https://www.business.gov.au/Risk-management/Health-and-safety 

Robson, L. S., Stephenson, C. M., Schulte, P. A., Amick III, B. C., Irvin, E. L., Eggerth, D. E., … & Peters, R. H. (2012). A systematic review of the effectiveness of occupational health and safety training. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 193-208.

Salvendy, G. (2012). Handbook of human factors and ergonomics. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Terry, D., Lê, Q., Nguyen, U., & Hoang, H. (2015). Workplace health and safety issues among community nurses: a study regarding the impact on providing care to rural consumers. BMJ open, 5(8), e008306.

Work Safe. (2018). Aged care: Safety basics. Retrieved from https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/aged-care-safety-basics#