How The Regulations Contribute To The Health And Safety At Work Act 1974

There are many regulations and guidelines that need to be adhered to within theatre practice and clinical governance. The role of an Operating Department Practitioner covers many different aspects of clinical practice within theatre and therefore it is vital that they possess a working knowledge of these regulations. This essay will look at professional practice in relation to role of the Operating Department Practitioner.
It will focus upon the Health and safety at work act 1974, this will look at the responsibilities of both employee and the employer and the implications these regulations have upon operating department practice. The need for effective communication and information governance, How evidence-based practice contributes to the
The duties imposed on the workplace differ for the employer and the employee. According to the Health and safety at work act 1974 ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of the employee’. This indicates that the employer can lawfully avoid taking measures if those measures are viewed to be impossible, too expensive or the time and effort would be greatly disproportionate to the risk that the measures are in place to protect the employee from. This helps the employer comply with the act without putting themselves at risk of reducing workforce or going out of business due to health and safety acts imposing unrealistic and expensive measures for very small risks within the workplace. There are many other areas of the health and safety at work act that the employer has to comply with for the safety of their employees, these include areas such as correct training, information and instruction in the use of equipment, there is also a huge need for the employer to provide safe working equipment and ensure that the systems are in place for the safe operation of these machines. Another area the employer must pay particular attention to is that materials, and chemicals used are properly used, stored, handled and transported. This also ties into one of the many regulations that help
This surgical smoke is not only dangerous to the staff within the theatre but also to people outside theatres in theatre corridors, this is due to the nature of the air flow systems used which both pump air out of the theatres into the corridors through small vents. There is however in my local trust a reluctance by many surgeons to use the surgical smoke evacuators as they are said to be large and awkward to handle and also obscure some vision. Another area affected by best practice is the use of PPE when disposing of soda lime from the anaesthetic machine. Best practice and local policies dictate that PPE must be used. When changing Soda lime, gloves must be used along with an apron as the person disposing of the soda lime can be splashed with calcium hydroxide, this corrosive irritant is a product of a chemical reaction involved in soda