COURSE OVERVIEW:

When working in the community service environment it is important to be aware of the risk that other people’s behaviour, including those receiving care and their visiting friends and family, may pose to the health and safety of yourself and those in the care environment.

While employers have legal responsibilities to keep workplaces safe, as an employee you have an essential part to play in preventing accidents to yourself and others by being alert and applying the correct safety procedures. You can do this by being aware of the common causes of workplace accidents and injuries, reducing the risks by using safe work practices and knowing how to respond in emergencies.

All workplaces have their own policies and procedures for dealing with an emergency or hazard, and for controlling risks. An emergency can be any hazard or risk that requires immediate action. Emergencies can occur in the workplace and it is very important that you understand what to do if an emergency happens, and how hazards and risks can be reduced or controlled.

Also, hazardous manual tasks contribute to a large percentage of workplace incidents and injuries that occur in Australia every year. Your workplace will have WHS policies and procedures that aim to prevent harm and injury to yourself and others while carrying out manual tasks. These policies and procedures will provide instructional information about common manual handling hazards in your workplace and how to reduce the risk associated with those hazards.

Manual handling risks must be controlled by applying the hierarchy of control. The Hierarchy of Control is a three tier method for managing risk. The highest level of risk management is elimination. However, sometimes it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk and in such cases the next level down of substitution, isolation and engineering should be implemented. The lowest and least effective level of controls is administrative controls and personal protective equipment.

In addition, everyday activities in health care, aged care and home and community care involve the risk of infections being transmitted. Food handling, personal care and cleaning are all activities that involve exposure to a number of hazards, including infectious agents.

The risk of infection will always be present; however, with careful planning these risks can be reduced. Despite these measures, there may be times when you are exposed to hazards in your workplace. The consequences of exposure can be reduced by following your organisation’s relevant infection control policies and procedures and by early identification and reporting of infection risks.

This course applies to all workers who require knowledge of workplace health and safety (WHS) to carry out their own work, in both centre-based and home-based service provision.

This course starts by explaining how to follow safe work practices for direct client care. Then discusses how to contribute to a workplace WHS meeting or inspection. Also, discusses how to conduct a workplace risk assessment and record the results. Then explains how to follow safe work practices for manual handling. Also, explains how to follow safe work practices for infection control. Then discusses how to contribute to safe work practices in the workplace. Then discusses how to apply workplace safety procedures in the day-to-day work activities required by the job role. Then explains how to reflect on own safe work practices. Finally, discusses how to follow workplace procedures for emergency situations.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• The state/territory legislation and how it impacts on workplace regulations, codes of practice and industry standards
• The rights and responsibilities of employers and workers, including duty of care
• Safety symbols and their meanings
• The common workplace hazards for hazardous manual tasks
• The workplace procedures for hazard identification
• The strategies for minimising risks
• The safety considerations when working in a community service environment
• The rights and responsibilities of workers and clients
• The fire safety including high-risk groups, behaviour that contributes to fire injury and fatalities
• The common workplace hazards for infection control risks
• The risks to personal safety
• The common sources of infection
• The means to minimise transfer of infectious diseases
• The fundamentals of the musculoskeletal system
• The safe practices to minimise injury to self and clients
• The workplace emergency procedures
• The common workplace hazards for personal safety risks
• The workplace policies and procedures for WHS
• The use of personal protective equipment
• How to report an incident?
• How to contribute to a workplace WHS meeting or inspection?
• How to conduct a workplace risk assessment and record the results?
• How to apply workplace safety procedures in the day-to-day work activities required by the job role?
• How to follow workplace procedures for emergency situations?

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.