IOSH’s ‘Healthcare: risk and safety management’ training package has been praised by one of the first organisations to complete the new course.
Staff from the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust (Acute Trust) were among the first to embark on and finish the training. They have said it has made a real difference to how they view health and safety issues at work.
Barry McGauley, health and safety manager at the trust, said: “Health and safety is now the biggest training programme in the trust. Every member of staff has to achieve specified levels of training.”
‘Healthcare risk and safety management’ offers a flexible, yet thorough grounding in all aspects of health and safety management, and comes in a modular format that can be spread over several weeks. Modules include: governance, health and safety law, risk assessment, safety management systems, accidents and incidents, infection prevention and control, hazardous substances, OH, fire, workplace safety and communications.
And while health and safety can often be a dry subject, and healthcare professionals may feel that they do not need the additional training, Lesley Stone, Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust’s activity manager, would argue otherwise. “I went on the course feeling I had to go, thinking I would not get anything out of it. The opposite was the case. I now realise that health and safety is everybody’s responsibility.”
The trust’s service manager (surgery), Joanne Southwell, added: “Prior to the course, you think that you are doing enough, but you are not. It has given me a deeper awareness of my responsibilities and the time required for health and safety.”
The lesson learned by the Trust is that health and safety is not just a cost, it can bring disparate departments together, reduce costs, improve staff working conditions and morale, and help reduce the number of days lost through accidents and sickness.
For further information on ‘Healthcare: risk and safety management’, please contact Tracey Wright, marketing manager on 0116 257 3185 or e-mail tracey.wright@iosh.co.uk
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