Assess the implications of health, safety and security legislation and regulations for a business in a workplace environment.
Mrs Berman is in charge of teaching science classes and doing practicals with the pupils. Her job role is to teach and communicate the science syllabus across to the pupils. As she is working in a business environment, she has to follow the relevant laws and legislations that are involved within the workplace as well as the specific laws that apply to the science department.
The laws and legislations are put in place because they are legal requirements when you work in a workplace. They are the workplace policies for the job role Mrs Berman has which means she has a lot of responsibilities in order to ensure safety, health and security for all the other employees in the science department. Mrs Berman has a key personnel responsibility for her own health and safety as well as others in the workplace. Examples of some of the practises she will have to perform are organising practical work using hazardous substances and chemicals, organisation school trips, filling out risk assessments, assessing day to day activities etc. Implications could occur if Mrs Berman doesn't keep the laws correctly and if pupils are not getting what they need to get regarding the legislation. Accidents are avoided by having specific laws and regulations and regular inspections. In a case of an accident or an injury, according to The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, a risk assessment needs to be filled out and produced because this is essential in order to follow the act. However, if this law wasn't put into practise then they would be unable to fix hazards in the school because there would be no risk assessments done as this wouldn't apply and therefore no staff would know how to react and what to do to solve the hazard. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 is an important law because its aim is to reduce harm in the workplace by assessing potential risks and creating action plans for emergencies. If this law wasn't implicated then their wouldn't be a pre plan of what to do in an emergency and how to deal with it which can lead to death in the work case if staff are not learnt how to deal with them before hand. JCoSS could also get sued if they a sever accident occurs an they do not know how to handle it, the pupil or staff could sue the school which means the school would lose a lot of money as well as losing staff and pupils because a huge majority of people would not want to work or go to school in a school where they do not look after the pupils and staffs well-being.
If the Health and Safety Law at Work Act was not put into place at JCoSS in the science department, it would be an extremely dangerous and injury prone department. Mrs Berman wouldn't be able to identify any potential hazards and they would be hard to observe. This would mean the whole school along with the science department would be extremely unsafe and their is a huge risk of Mrs Berman harming herself along with her students. It could cause injuries that could get JCoSS sued. This is because it is illegal to not follow the Health and Safety Law at Work Act. If the Health and Safety Law at Work Act wasn't applied in Mrs Berman's classroom, the classrooms would not be effectively checked and examined for any hazards which could cause a problem because there would be a lot of accidents happening and it would be an unsafe classroom which would disobey the Health and Safety Law. The Health and Safety Law at Work Act is extremely important as it is said to be the most important piece of legalisation because it is an enabling act which means any other legalisation can be added to it without the Health and Safety at Work Act having to change itself. It aims to protect people, like Mrs Berman whilst their at work by ensuring all explosives are transported, stored and handled safely which will avoid accidents such as burns, falling objects, chemicals blowing up, eye problems etc. The act also states that if there are more than 5 people in the business, they must have a written Health and Safety policy which includes 3 parts to ensure all staff are aware of the aims and objectives of the law, what needs to be achieved for the Health and Safety to be followed out, who is responsible for the Health and Safety in the school and the science department alone and the necessary procedures and methods for relevant laws affecting the business. If Mrs Berman didn't follow the Health and Safety at Work Act, it is considered a criminal offence as well as creating accidents and injuries for other staff and students and JCoSS could get sued and could go to prison for not performing this law correctly.
If Mrs Berman didn't carry out the Display Screen Equipment Regulation 1992 within the science department at JCoSS, then various bad things would occur. To start with, Mrs Berman could obtain serious health problems such as eye problems from looking at the computer and boar screens at the wrong angles. This could also affect her neck and back because she is straining the muscles in her eyes as well as the muscles in her neck and back which could affect her posture and cause muscular strain. JCoSS could get sued if any staff results in having a problem and JCoSS may have to pay for her treatment which is expensive. Another problem which could occur from not adjusting computer screens and boars correctly is too much screen glare which makes it uncomfortable for Mrs Berman because she may gain poor eyesight from straining her eyes too much. The Display Screen Equipment Regulation 1992 is very essential to Mrs Berman because she works for long hours using her computer, laptop and board screens therefore they all need them to be adjusted to fit her individual requirements, because otherwise a number of injuries could develop. Mrs Berman has a bad knee therefore she needs her laptop on a slight raise because she cant sit easily on her chair, by adjusting her laptop to fit her needs, it will make it safe for her eyes to see the screen and will be following the laws of the Display Screen Equipment Regulation 1992. JCoSS have to ensure Mrs Berman has a limited period of time looking at her computer, laptop and the board screen as well as frequent breaks to prevent eye problems occurring, however, if the Display Screen Equipment Regulation 1992 was not followed then various other problems could occur and Mrs Berman and the other staff would be looking at computer screens and boards for a unhealthy amount of time which is illegal.
The COSSH Act 1994 should be pursued because if not, harmful substances could be accessible to Mrs Berman which is unsafe as she wouldn't know the affect the chemical could have on her and she may use it for something different to the chemicals appropriate use and this could result in an injury or even worse, death. JCoSS would be sued because this is a serious offence of not keeping the COSSH Act 1994 as it is threatening if not kept. Following the COSSH Act 1994 is vital because it deals with information on the concerns on the products and work practises associated with substances hazardous to health capable of causing bad health effects or diseases. Mrs Berman works in the science department which involves working with a whole range or different hazardous and harmful chemicals and substances and she needs to undertake practical work to her classes which needs to be performer extremely carefully because if anything goes wrong or a student messes around with a harmful substance serious consequences would happen and someone could get injured. Before undertaking practical work, Mrs Berman must ensure all potential risks are identified through a risk assessment to spot the hazards that could potentially occur and make sure they are controlled and don't uncover. Mrs Berman also needs to ensure that provisions are made to eliminate the risks. JCoSS train their staff to know how to deal with hazardous substances as well as other ways to control the handling of them such as keeping them well away from falling or leaking to prevent accidents.
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 is an essential law to follow because it affects our health and peoples wellbeing. If this law wasn't put into place Mrs Berman could catch diseases from people and objects that people have touched that ave diseases and they have spread them. Diseases can spread readily very easily which is why this law was punting place to prevent diseases and dangerous occurrences happening. If Mrs Berman catches a disease or injuries herself, then this could result in a loss of her job because the disease may be fatal or very serious. JCoSS would be sued if the school didn't follow this law appropriately as a lot of people would get sick because there are thousands of children and staff in the school who would touch the same objects daily which spreads the disease. If JCoSS got sued for not following this essential regulation, then they may have to pay for any treatment needed for Mrs Berman or any hospital appointment which can be extremely expensive depending how fatal and serious her disease or injury is. In the science classroom there is a soap dispenser with hand sanitiser next to is constantly to ensure everyone washes their hands especially before doing a practical experiment where they have to touch objects and one another. The science classrooms are also equipped with paper towels in case somebody needs to sneeze. These are used so that the germs do not spread and go everywhere causing somebody to catch their germs and get ill. If diseases or dangerous occurrences are spread then this is a loss for the school as staff could catch it off each other and call in sick.
The electricity at work regulations 1999 should be followed because if not then this could result in Mrs Berman getting an electric shock, a burn or potentially dying. Within the science department there are a lot of substances a long with electrical appliances such as plug sockets which are extremely dangerous and if the law wasn't put in place then this could be a serious hazard and nobody would know the dangers. The electricity at work regulations 1999 is very important because it ensures all electrical systems are constructed safely which means Mrs Berman can use them without having to worry about the dangers they could cause. All the electrical systems are tested before they get put into the science department to make sure they are safe for Mrs Berman purpose or JCoSS could get sued if Mrs Berman has an accident or gains an injury from an electrical system because JCoSS have a health and safety team to take care of everything to do with fitting the electrical systems to fixing problems. If any electrical system within the science department starts to break or needs a repair, Mrs Berman should instantly call the health and safety team to fix it because otherwise Mrs Berman could get a shock or a burn or another injury and blame the school, which they can be sued for.
The manual handling operations regulations 1992 is put into place because it is key law which should be followed by Mrs Berman in the science department because it will protect her and everyone else within the school. If the law wasn't put into place and the regulation wasn't followed then it would cause injuries because Mrs Berman wouldn't be aware of the potential problems that could happen and she could cause herself by handling equipment in the science classrooms or office. As well as Mrs Berman potentially harming herself, she could affect others as well because equipment such as tables are heavy and if moved incorrectly it could cause somebody a serious injury like breaking their foot. In the science deparment, practical experiments frequently occur causing the classrooms to be moved around and therefore because of this regulation, Mrs Berman is not allowed to pick up or move any equipment that is heavy or could cause an injury to anyone. Mrs Berman would call the health and safety team to handle the equipment and put it all back together at the end however if the law wasn't in place, Mrs Berman along with the students would move and handle equipment themselves and if they injured themselves or anyone else, they could sue JCoSS which is why this law was put in place to protect schools from being sued.
No comments:
Post a Comment