1.1
At North Staffordshire NHS hospital there was a communication problem concerning health and safety issues. The Health and Safety Act 1974 emphasises that health and safety at work must be a priority and anyone who doesn’t abide by it will face a penalty. There are so many reasons why they were health and safety issues at the hospital such as staff or management not being aware or members of staff deliberately not working in accordance with regulations. These difficulties resulted in the Trust appointing a director to be in charge of health and safety issues. The first duty of the director was to ensure that procedures, policies and regulations were implemented and monitored. Secondly, the director had to make sure that first aid courses were run to educate members of staff on what actions to take in case of emergency. In addition to this the director had to make sure that the first aid box was available in the workplace and replenished. According to CQC, every worker must be aware of where the first aid box is kept and there should be a symbol above it.
All employees at the hospital need to know what to do in the case of a fire and they can only know this by being trained. It is the employer’s duty to ensure that fire exit signs are in place to let people know how to exit the building in the incidence of a fire. The newly appointed director needs to make sure that communication takes place effectively either verbally, in written form or graphically. He will use verbal communication when he is training staff members and during meetings. Written communication takes place in the form of emails informing staff members about health and safety. Graphic communication occurs through the use of DVDs on fire procedures or other health and safety issues (HSE 1996).
1.2
In order for the new director to be effective he needs to appoint people who will assist him in implementing health and safety issues at the hospital. The HASAWA Act 1974 emphasises that it is...