Safe work practices for direct client care

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required for a worker to participate in safe work practices to ensure their own health and safety, and that of others in work environments that involve caring directly for clients. It has a focus on maintaining safety of the worker, the people being supported and other community members.

This unit 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.

The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards and industry codes of practice. Safe work practices for direct client care

ABOUT THIS RESOURCE

This resource brings together information to develop your knowledge about this unit. The information is designed to reflect the requirements of the unit and uses headings to makes it easier to follow.

Read through this resource to develop your knowledge in preparation for your assessment. You will be required to complete the assessment tools that are included in your program. At the back of the resource are a list of references you may find useful to review.

As a student it is important to extend your learning and to search out text books, internet sites, talk to people at work and read newspaper articles and journals which can provide additional learning material.

Your trainer may include additional information and provide activities. Slide presentations and assessments in class to support your learning. Safe work practices for direct client care

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ABOUT ASSESSMENT

Throughout your training we are committed to your learning by providing a training and assessment framework that ensures the knowledge gained through training is translated into practical on the job improvements.

You are going to be assessed for:

 Your skills and knowledge using written and observation activities that apply

to your workplace.

 Your ability to apply your learning.

 Your ability to recognise common principles and actively use these on the job.

You will receive an overall result of Competent or Not Yet Competent for the assessment of this unit. The assessment is a competency based assessment, which has no pass or fail. You are either competent or not yet competent. Not Yet Competent means that you still are in the process of understanding and acquiring the skills and knowledge required to be marked competent. The assessment process is made up of a number of assessment methods. You are required to achieve a satisfactory result in each of these to be deemed competent overall. Safe work practices for direct client care

All of your assessment and training is provided as a positive learning tool. Your assessor will guide your learning and provide feedback on your responses to the assessment. For valid and reliable assessment of this unit, a range of assessment methods will be used to assess practical skills and knowledge.

Your assessment may be conducted through a combination of the following methods:

 Written Activity

 Case Study

 Observation

 Questions

 Third Party Report

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The assessment tool for this unit should be completed within the specified time period following the delivery of the unit. If you feel you are not yet ready for assessment, discuss this with your trainer and assessor. Safe work practices for direct client care

To be successful in this unit you will need to relate your learning to your workplace. You may be required to demonstrate your skills and be observed by your assessor in your workplace environment. Some units provide for a simulated work environment and your trainer and assessor will outline the requirements in these instances.

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E L E M E N T S A N D P E R F O R M A NC E C R I T E R I A

1. Follow safe work practices for direct client care

1.1 Follow workplace policies and procedures for safe work practices

1.2 Identify existing and potential hazards in the workplace, report them to designated persons, and record them according to workplace procedures

1.3 Identify any client-related risk factors or behaviours of concern, report them to designated persons, and record them according to workplace procedures

1.4 Follow workplace policies and procedures to minimise risk Safe work practices for direct client care

1.5 Identify and report incidents and injuries to designated persons according to workplace procedures

2. Follow safe work practices for manual handling

2.1 Follow manual handling procedures and work instructions for minimising manual handling risk

2.2 Identify manual handling hazards and report in line with workplace procedures

2.3 Apply control measures for minimising manual handling risk

3. Follow safe work practices for infection control

3.1 Follow standard precautions as part of own work routine to prevent the spread of infection

3.2 Recognise situations when additional infection control procedures are required

3.3 Apply additional precautions when standard precautions alone may not be sufficient to prevent transmission of infection

3.4 Identify risks of infection and report them according to workplace procedures

4. Contribute to safe work practices in the workplace

4.1 Raise WHS issues with designated persons according to organisational procedures

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4.2 Participate in workplace safety meetings, inspections and consultative activities Safe work practices for direct client care

4.3 Contribute to the development and implementation of safe workplace policies and procedures in own work area

5. Reflect on own safe work practices

5.1 Identify ways to maintain currency of safe work practices in regards to workplace systems, equipment and processes in own work role

5.2 Reflect on own levels of stress and fatigue, and report to designated persons according to workplace procedures

5.3 Participate in workplace debriefing to address individual needs

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P E R F O R M A N C E E V I D E N C E A N D K N O W L E D G E E V I D E N C E

This describes the essential knowledge and skills and their level required for this unit.

PERFORMANCE EVIDENCE

The candidate must show evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the job role.

There must be demonstrated evidence that the candidate has completed the following tasks at least once in line with state/territory WHS regulations, relevant codes of practice and workplace procedures:

 Contributed to a workplace WHS meeting or inspection

 Conducted a workplace risk assessment and recorded the results

 Consistently applied workplace safety procedures in the day-to-day work

activities required by the job role, including: Safe work practices for direct client care

o Infection control

o Hazardous manual tasks

o Use of personal protective equipment

o Reporting incidents

 Followed workplace procedures for at least one simulated emergency

situation

KNOWLEDGE EVIDENCE

The candidate must demonstrate knowledge of:

 State/territory legislation and how it impacts on workplace regulations,

codes of practice and industry standards, including:

o State/territory WHS authorities Safe work practices for direct client care

o Rights and responsibilities of employers and workers, including duty

of care

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o Hazardous manual tasks

o Infection control Safe work practices for direct client care

 Safety symbols and their meanings, including signs for:

o Poisons

o Emergency equipment

o Personal protective equipment (PPE)

o Specific hazards such as sharps, radiation

 Hazard identification, including:

o Definition of a hazard

o Common workplace hazards relevant to the industry setting including

hazardous manual tasks, infection control risks and personal safety

risks

o Workplace procedures for hazard identification

o Strategies minimising risk Safe work practices for direct client care

 Safety considerations when working in a home-based environment, including:

o Rights and responsibilities of workers and clients

o Basic home fire safety including high-risk groups, behaviour that

contributes to fire injury and fatalities, and smoke alarm placement,

installation and maintenance.

o Risks to personal safety

o Common sources of infection and means to minimise transfer of

infectious diseases

o Fundamentals of the musculoskeletal system and practices to

minimise injury to self and clients

 Workplace emergency procedures

 Workplace policies and procedures for WHS

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A S S E S S M E N T C O N D I T I O N S

Skills must be demonstrated:

 In the workplace

OR

 In an environment that provides realistic, in-depth industry-validated

scenarios and simulations to assess candidates’ skills and knowledge. Safe work practices for direct client care

In addition, assessment must ensure use of:

 Current workplace policies and procedures for WHS

 PPE relevant to the workplace and job role of the worker

Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015/AQTF mandatory competency requirements for assessors.

P R E – R E Q U I S I T E S

This unit must be assessed after the following pre-requisite unit:

There are no pre-requisites for this unit.

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T O P I C 1 – F O L L O W S A F E W O R K P R A C T I C E S F O R D I R E C T C L I E N T C A R E

FOLLOW WORKPLACE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR SAFE WORK PRACTICES AND IDENTIFY EXISTING AND POTENTIAL

HAZARDS IN THE WORKPLACE, REPORT THEM TO DESIGNATED PERSONS, AND RECORD THEM ACCORDING TO WORKPLACE

PROCEDURES AND IDENTIFY RISKS OF INFECTION AND REPORT THEM ACCORDING TO WORKPLACE PROCEDURES

In a healthcare environment, there are many risks or hazards that you will need to be

aware of. The most common one will be the risk of infection.

Infection is found in and spread via:

 Airborne droplets

 Contact with faeces and then with the mouth skin contact

 Contact with blood and other body secretions

This means that the transmission of infection can come from a variety of sources using

direct contact or via airborne droplet contact.

The ways in which infection may be transmitted from an infected source such as

another person is through:

 Direct contact

 A vehicle Safe work practices for direct client care

 A vector

 Airborne transmission

CONTACT TRANSMISSION OF INFECTION

Direct transmission contact is the actual touching of an infected person causing the

infection to spread, for example, the direct touching of wound dressings or body fluids

and infection.

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The indirect transmission means that touching of the content and added object such as

clothing, dressings, personal care equipment, will cause the infection to spread. For

example, staff uniform, other clothing, pillows, communal hand towel, charts and forms,

thermometers, bath.

Droplet transmission means that when an infected person sneezes, coughs, or talks,

airborne droplets containing mucous membrane, or skin particles from the infected

person may be projected during that process. Talking may project droplets for up to one

metre, and sneezing may project droplets for up to 10 metres. Safe work practices for direct client care

Vehicle transmission of infection occurs when water, food, milk, or any biological

products introduced by ingestion, inoculation, or by being deposited on the skin or

mucous membrane will cause the infection to spread.

Vector transmission of infection occurs when insects transmit infection by biting or by

depositing infected materials onto the skin, on food or other objects causing the

infection to spread.

Airborne transmission of infection occurs when infected small particles that have been

in an infected environment such as water droplets, dust particles, are inhaled or settle

on the body surfaces causing the infection to spread. For example, in a residential care

facility where a number of residents may have infections, coughing, sneezing, talking,

and the flapping of bedding may transmit infection.

To avoid contamination, wear disposable gloves when performing direct care functions

involving blood, semen, vaginal fluid or other body fluids contaminated with blood.

Consult the policy and procedure documents of your organisation to ensure you are

following the correct procedures.Safe work practices for direct client care

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IDENTIFY RISKS OF INFECTION

To successfully identify and respond to infection risks, we must understand and follow

safe work practices that prevent the transmission of infections. There are a great

number of interesting websites relating to infection control. A good site to go to is:

www.vicniss.org.au1

IDENTIFYING A HAZARD

A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm to you, the patients, clients, your

co-workers or visitors to the work area. In the sterilisation setting this includes

chemicals, sharps such as needles, soiled instruments, power, water, steam, noise, and

heat.Safe work practices for direct client care

In developing procedures or buying new equipment, identify these risks early so that

work practices can be developed that ensure the hazard is eliminated as much as

possible. Regular safety inspections and audits can help identify and manage hazards.

All employees, patients, volunteers, contractors and visitors that enter the workplace

have a responsibility to behave in a safe and responsible manner and report any hazards

or near accidents.Safe work practices for direct client care

If you have identified any hazards or risks in the workplace you must ensure you report

them to the designated person. The designated person could be your:

 Supervisor

 Manager

 Health and safety officer

 Any other designated person elected by your workplace

1 https://sielearning.tafensw.edu.au/MCS/9362/sterilisation%20disk%201/lo/7383/738…