Industry: Health

The Health and Social Care Sector employs in excess of 177,000 staff in Northern Ireland providing services at a range of sites as well as into people’s own homes.  As well as those working directly with service users there is also an extensive range of other staff providing expertise and support in maintaining buildings and equipment, catering, transporting people and goods, cleaning, and various other activities that underpin the delivery of care.

The industry has to take account of the health and safety of both its employees and also the large numbers of members of the public and service users who may be affected by the way work activities and undertakings are organised and the associated risks are managed.

The importance of good management systems, risk analysis and incident reporting is fundamental in ensuring the health and safety of everyone involved.

It is well worth remembering the added value that managing health and safety risks effectively has in reducing the need for people to avail of medical treatment for work related injuries and ill-health.