All workers have a right to work in places where risks to their health and safety are properly controlled. Health and safety at work is about stopping people from getting hurt or ill through work.

According to the Health and Safety Executive in the UK in 2017/18, 144 people were killed at work and approximately 1.4 million poeople suffered from work-related injuries occurred  which led to 30.7 million working days were lost due to illness and injury. Therefore preventing accidents and ill health caused by work must be a key priority with safe and healthy working becoming second nature to everyone.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• State your own health and safety responsibilities at work.
• Explain how to prevent accidents within the workplace in areas of slips and trips, Working at height, using electrical equipment and COSHH regulations.
• Act appropriately in an emergency situation.
• Use the correct procedure to report accidents.

General guidelines

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAW) is the main piece of health and safety legislation in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland it is the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978. Both laws place a duty on all employers to provide whatever information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of their employees.

Great emphasis is placed on health and safety within a pharmacy environment and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) as the regulating body in Great Britain and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are responsible for agreeing and monitoring standards to protect the health, safety and well-being of people using and working in pharmacy. It is the responsibility of each pharmacy to ensure they achieve these standards.