Explain Potential Hazards and the Harm That May Arise from Each in a Health and Social Care Setting

P1: Explain potential hazards and the harm that may arise from each in a health and social care setting.[pic 1]

Physical Environment Hazard

A Physical Environment hazard could consist of anything that can cause potential harm to a setting that a person is in.

An example of a physical environment hazard is that the nursery is on a main road. The first harm for this would be that if the main road was busy and a child was to run out they could possibly get run over which would be putting their lives in danger.

Secondly, the child could also put their lives in danger by approaching any machinery or equipment that has been left out on the side by road workers. This could lead to potential collision between other vehicles putting their lives and the child’s life in danger. Both examples are safety hazards.

The second physical environment hazard would be opening the windows in the nursery. This could be a risk to the child’s life because they could climb out the window and they could get kidnapped.

Secondly, if the windows open too much an outsider could climb in through the window to the nursery. This could put the child’s life in danger because an invalid could put the child’s life in danger by harming them in a certain way. Both these examples are also safety hazards.

Equipment Hazard

An equipment hazard could consist of anything that could cause potential harm to a setting that a person is in.

 An example of an equipment hazard is that the nursey could provide small toys which the child could potentially put in their ears, nose or they could swallow it. This is a risk to the child because the child could swallow the toy which could block the child’s airways which could then prevent the child from breathing.

Secondly, the nursery teacher could leave the toys out which the child could fall on. This could harm the child because if the child falls on one of the toys the child could get hurt. The toy could cut open the child’s skin or they could get a big bruise.

The second example of an equipment hazard would be leaving out cleaning products. This could put a child in harm because the child could drink the product if it is a liquid product which could put the child’s health in risk.

Secondly, the cleaner in the nursery could leave the cupboard with the cleaning products unlocked and any of the children can access the cupboard. This could cause a harm to the child because the child could possibly take the product out and pill on themselves which could cause harm to the skin. Both of these examples are health safety.

Substance Hazard

A substance could consist of anything that could cause potential harm to a person’s health in the setting that they are in.

An example of a substance hazard is that if a hot radiator is left unsupervised without a gate the child could burn themselves. This would be a risk to the child’s health and safety.

Secondly, the child could also put themselves in harm by moving the gate or trying to fit or force their hand into the gate which could get stuck and possibly hurt them or cut their hand open which could then lead to an infection if the member of staff hasn’t seen it and it hasn’t been cleaned up and covered the right way.