Health and Safety plays an important part of our daily lives and is becoming more prevalent. It is no longer a thing of industry or operating heavy machinery but has a very specific role to play in every office or work place around the country. While you may not think your office is a dangerous place to work, there is a legal obligation to have certain minimum levels of first aid and safety equipment available in even the most innocent looking office.
Any office or workplace no matter how safe or innocuous has the potential for simple every day minor accidents to occur. From falls, to cuts burns and natural illnesses, they can all escalate into something more serious if there’s no first aid treatment available. This is what really forms the basis of the rules and regulations that covers safety at work, often called Occupational Health and Safety.
Part of every employer’s legal duties and obligations apart from the obvious like taxation and insurance is to provide a safe working environment for their employees. This covers a multitude including the maintenance of machine, safety equipment, fire drills, evacuation procedures, maximum working hours, safety gear. Depending on the type of business and location involved, the requirements can vary dramatically. So here’s a brief description of an Employers duties.
Employee Duties
Employees, including those employed on a part-time or temporary basis, also have duties including:
- Comply with relevant laws and protect their own safety and health, as well as the safety and health of anyone who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work.
- Ensure that they are not under the influence of any intoxicant to the extent that they could be a danger to themselves or others while at work.
- Cooperate with their employer with regard to safety, health and welfare at work.
- Participate in safety and health training offered by their employer.
- Not engage in any improper conduct that could endanger their safety or health or that of anyone else.
There is numerous Governmental legislation and acts applied to most sectors all of which supply guidelines and minimum requirements and standard safety procedures and equipment. These can be complex and industry specific and can take some time to find if you don’t know exactly where to look.
What Rules & Regulations Apply
The HSA (Health and Safety Authority) have prepared comprehensive guidelines on First Aid at Places of Work detailing the relevant standards and training provider requirements including the provision and use of Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s). Visit http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/First_Aid/ for further details.
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 sets out the main provisions for securing and improving the safety, health and welfare of people at work. The law applies to all places of work regardless of how many workers are employed. The 2005 Act replaces the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 and sets out:
- The requirements for the control of safety and health at work.
- The management, organisation and the systems of work necessary to achieve those goals.
- The responsibilities and roles of employers, the self-employed, employees and others.
- The enforcement procedures needed to ensure that the goals are met.
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations, 2007 also place specific requirements on both employers and employees.
So what is the definition of first aid and what is expected to be included in the standard safety/first aid equipment in the work place.
First aid – definition
In a case where a person requires treatment from a registered medical practitioner or a registered general nurse, treatment for the purpose of preserving life or minimising the consequences of injury or illness until the services of a practitioner or nurse are obtained, or in a case of a minor injury which would otherwise receive no treatment or which does not need treatment by a registered medical practitioner or registered general nurse, treatment of that minor injury; “occupational first-aider” means a person trained and qualified in occupational first-aid. (Source HSA website www.hsa.ie)
What’s in a First Aid Kit?
What should be in a First Aid Kit? Here’s a list recommended contents as defined by
Bearing all of the above in mind, its well worth your while to familiarize yourself with your duties as an Employee, although most are common sense and also find out where your first aid kit is located in work and more importantly who the trained first aid practitioner is.
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