2017

a.Health and safety principle

That all individuals are given the best level of protection on health and safety and that can be reasonably practiced.

Those in charge of activities that may result to, or have the possibility of resulting to risks on health and safety are also responsible for reducing or eliminating such risks.

The employers and self-employed individuals have the duty of being proactive and taking practicable and reasonable measures in order to ensure that they maintain health and safety at their workplaces (Alli, 2013).

Besides being entitled to proper health and safety, employees should also be encouraged and be represented on health and safety concerns.

Both the employees and the employers should be free to exchange information on the possible risks of health and safety and the measures that help lower the risks.

b.Examples of topics of health and safety in a health care environment.

Fire evacuation and safety

Food control and safety

Waste collection and management

Machine handling and tools management

Health and safety hazard- is any source of probable, harm, damage or hostile health effects on either an individual or some property. An example of a health and safety hazard is electric cabling.

Health and safety risk- it involves carrying out assessment of hazards that could result to injury, harm, illness and even death to a worker in any given health care environment. It literally represents the chance of a health and safety hazard causing harm or injury. Example of such a risk is the extent to which an electric cabling may result to an electric shock which could cause harm to the end user.

c.Employers to ensure that their employees are not exposed to excess levels of electromagnetic field that exceed the prescribed limits of exposure.

All employers must carry out an assessment of the electromagnetic field levels that their employees are exposed to

All the employers must come up with an action plan and put into practice to ensure that the levels of exposure to electromagnetic fields are reduced. They should also evaluate the risks the employees face when exposed to electromagnetic fields (Bellaby, 2013).

a.Single fault condition

This is an incidence where one mode of protecting against a hazard is defective or when there exist a single external abnormal condition.

When a single means becomes defective. It is designed such that an individual error does not stop other parts and functions of the machine or equipment.

When there exists a single external abnormal condition

b.Leakage current

Leakage current is caused by a parallel combination of capacitance and direct current resistance between an Ac line or voltage source and the conductive parts of the equipment that are grounded.

Testing the level of leakage current in any medical electrical equipment will help determine the safety levels of the equipment. The safety level of a medical electrical equipment therefore depends on the leakage current (Berger & Hobbs, 2011).

Floating type F applied part are devices used to perform intended functions and have different specifications to help protect against electrical shock, in relation to the leakage currents. They are floating and must therefore be separated from the earth (Neal & Griffin, 2014).

2016

c.Proper insulation of electric equipment- using insulators such as rubber, glass, plastic or mica will help reduce the flow of electric current.

Grounding- involves designing a low-resistance path that links the equipment to the earth in order to reduce the rate of voltage build up in the equipment that could result to shock.

Circuit protection devices- these are devices that regulate or stop the current flow in the occurrence of a short circuit, an overload or a ground fault. It always occurs automatically (Robson et al, 2014).

a.Determination of risk

Fault tree analysis- it is used to identify and analyze possible factors that can lead to a specific unwanted event, usually referred to as a top event.

Scenario analysis- involves analysis of a situation about the occurrence of a future event or activity (Dollard & Bakker, 2010).

Risk avoidance

Mitigation of risk

Transfer of risk

Risk acceptance

b.Essential requirements

Device safety

Technical performance

Medical performance

The usability of medical devices in a bid to minimize risks.

The process of software lifecycle including validation and verification.

Risk management ability

a.Piece of legislation

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSW Act)

To protect the health, safety and welfare of it workers as well as individuals who might be affected by the activities of the organization (Griffin & Neal, 2013).

Provide relevant information about the level of risks involved and how protected the workers at the place of work.

Identify the possible hazards

Perform an evaluation of the risks

Carry out an evaluation of the possible people who can be harmed

Evaluate whether the controls put in place are appropriate and can help reduce the chances or severity of the risk. (Pouliakas & Theodossiou, 2013).

Each hospital should be designed in the following ways for the purpose of safety in case a fire outbreak emerges;

Entrance clearance and width should not be less than five meters and six meters respectively.

The buildings must have open spaces in accordance to the zonal regulations.

At least 40 percent of the occupants have to be trained on how to carry out proper evacuation as well as operation of fire management systems.

The hospital should also have proper and wide stairways as well as ramps to enable easier and faster evacuation of patients and staff during a fire outbreak.

b.The amount of current that is moving through the body-the higher the current the greater the severity of the shock (Hughes & Ferrett, 2011).

How long the body remains in contact with the circuit- the longer the body remains in contact, the greater shock.

The path that the current follows through the body- this basically represents how comfortable the path that the current follows is. It goes through a comfortable path, then there are increased chances of causing more harm to the individual.

The Medical Devices Directive (93/42/EEC).

The following advances have been made on the construction of safe equipment;

Provision of surgical equipment of high frequency

Development of patient monitors

Development of equipment that have not more than one connection to a specific supply mains

2015

High value diagnostic ultrasound and therapeutic equipment.

Proper of medical equipment to ensure they meet the required safety standards and regulations.

Regulatory experts who ensure that the equipment meet the required design specifications.

a.Primary regulation

The Health and Safety at Work act (HSW Act)

Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The workplace (health, safety and Welfare) regulations 1992.

Document

To carry out an evaluation of the possible hazards and work on how to minimize or prevent them from happening.

Ensure familiarity with the equipment before use

b.Ensure the equipment is inspected to achieve completeness once at the end of the procedure.

Ensure the operator has the required skills to operate the device before when delegating duty (Murphy, Kiernan & Chapman, 2014).

Whenever a device malfunctions or fails in the course of duty, take necessary procedures for maintenance.

Ensure each equipment is only used for its intended purpose.

Facilitate necessary training for newly acquired equipment.

a.Axes Y-impact

X- Events per year

ARROW-severity level

b.In order to keep their employees and people who visit the workplace safe.

To reduce on cost of money and time spent on injuries

To increase the productivity of the organization.

d.Health and safety hazard- is any source of probable, harm, damage or hostile health effects on either an individual or some property. An example of a health and safety hazard is electric cabling (Nahrgang, Morgeson & Hofmann, 2013).

Health and safety risk- it involves carrying out assessment of hazards that could result to injury, harm, illness and even death to a worker in any given health care environment. It literally represents the chance of a health and safety hazard causing harm or injury. Example of such a risk is the extent to which an electric cabling may result to an electric shock which could cause harm to the end user.

a.Mechanical hazards- this includes insecure controls fittings and loose wheel fixings on trolleyed equipment

Risk of fire or explosion- this may occur due to faults from external or internal short-circuits.

Lack of function- the absence could threaten life given that these machines are life supporting and performs monitoring of crucial functions.

Infection-improper decontamination after use could result to transmission of dangerous microorganisms to other end users.

Misuse- misusing any equipment may lead to severe incidents that involve the use of these equipment.

Insufficient or excessive output- theses equipment are designed to operate at some optimum output such an excess or less of it may end up being hazardous (Underhill & Quinlan, 2011).

References

Alli, B.O., 2013. Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety Second edition. Geneva, International Labour Organization, 10(4), pp.579-599

Bellaby, P., 2013. To risk or not to risk? Uses and limitations of Mary Douglas on risk-acceptability for understanding health and safety at work and road accidents. The sociological review, 38(3), pp.465-483.

Berger, A.M. and Hobbs, B.B., 2011. Impact of shift work on the health and safety of nurses and patients. Clinical journal of oncology nursing, 10(4), pp.88-99.

Dollard, M.F. and Bakker, A.B., 2010. Psychosocial safety climate as a precursor to conducive work environments, psychological health problems, and employee engagement. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(3), pp.579-599.

Griffin, M.A. and Neal, A., 2013. Perceptions of safety at work: a framework for linking safety climate to safety performance, knowledge, and motivation. Journal of occupational health psychology, 5(3), p.347.

Hughes, P. and Ferrett, E., 2011. Introduction to health and safety at work: The handbook for the NEBOSH national general certificate. Routledge, 10(4), pp.579-599.

Murphy, D.J., Kiernan, N.E. and Chapman, L.J., 2014. An occupational health and safety intervention research agenda for production agriculture: does safety education work?. American journal of industrial medicine, 29(4), pp.392-396.

Nahrgang, J.D., Morgeson, F.P. and Hofmann, D.A., 2013. Safety at work: a meta-analytic investigation of the link between job demands, job resources, burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), p.71.

Neal, A. and Griffin, M.A., 2014. Safety climate and safety at work. The psychology of workplace safety, pp.15-34.

Pouliakas, K. and Theodossiou, I., 2013. The economics of health and safety at work: an interdiciplinary review of the theory and policy. Journal of Economic Surveys, 27(1), pp.167-208.

Robson, L.S., Clarke, J.A., Cullen, K., Bielecky, A., Severin, C., Bigelow, P.L., Irvin, E., Culyer, A. and Mahood, Q., 2014. The effectiveness of occupational health and safety management system interventions: a systematic review. Safety science, 45(3), pp.329-353.

Underhill, E. and Quinlan, M., 2011. How precarious employment affects health and safety at work: the case of temporary agency workers. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 66(3), pp.397-421.