how can personal presentation reduce risks to health and safety

• Human Factors

How Attitude and Behaviour Can Affect Health & Safety

People are involved in all aspects of work. Human factors are concerned with three interrelated areas:

• What people are being asked to do ( the job and its characteristics);
• Who is doing it ( the individual and their competence);
• Where they are working ( the organisation and its attributes).

Tasks should be designed in accordance with ergonomic principles to take into account limitations and strengths in human performance. Matching the job to the person will ensure that they are not overloaded and that the most effective contribution to the business results. Physical match includes the design of the whole workplace and working environment. Mental match involves the individual’s information and decision-making requirements, as well as their perception of the tasks and risks. Mismatches between job requirements and people’s capabilities provide the potential for human error.

The individual

People bring to their job personal attitudes, skills, habits and personalities which can be strengths or weaknesses depending on the task demands. Individual characteristics influence behaviour in complex and significant ways. Their effects on task performance may be negative and may not always be mitigated by job design. Some characteristics such as personality are fixed and cannot be changed. Others, such as skills and attitudes, may be changed or enhanced.

The organisation

Organisational factors have the greatest influence on individual and group behaviour, yet they are often overlooked during the design of work and during investigation of accidents and incidents. Organisations need to establish their own positive health and safety culture. The culture needs to promote employee involvement and commitment at all levels, emphasising that deviation from established health and safety standards is not acceptable.

Organisation factors are often overlooked during the design of jobs but have a significant influence on individual and group behaviour. A number of organisational factors have been found to be associated with good safety performance. The key ones are:

• Effective communication – a high level of communication between and within levels of the organisation and comprehensive formal and informal communications.
• Learning organisation – the organisation continually improves its own methods and learns from mistakes.
• Health and safety focus – a strong focus by everyone in the organisation on health and safety.
• External pressures – pressures from outside the organisation including a buoyant financial state of the organisation, and the impact of regulatory bodies.
• Committed resources – time, money and staff devoted to health and safety showing strong evidence of commitment.
• Participation – staff at different levels in the organisation identify hazards, suggest control measures, provide feedback, and feel they ‘own’ safety procedures.
• Management visibility – senior managers show commitment and are visible ‘on the shop floor’.
• Balance of productivity and safety – the need for production is properly balanced against health and safety so that the latter are not ignored.
• High quality training – training is properly managed, the content is well-chosen and the quality is high. Counting the hours spent on training is not enough.
• A clean and comfortable working environment – including general housekeeping, the design and layout of the plant.
• Job satisfaction – confidence, trust and recognition of good safety performance impact.
• Workforce composition – a significant proportion of older, more experienced and socially stable workers. This group tend to have fewer accidents, lower absenteeism and less turnover.

Being aware of a hazard

People are normally concerned with doing a good job rather than being consciously aware or concerned about the health and safety hazards in their workplace. At appropriate times, we need to be able to switch over to a more conscious and focused way of thinking about the risks and controls.

There are a number of influences on whether a person feels at risk from a hazard. A risk is seen as being greater if we perceive it as having severe consequences or if we feel personally vulnerable. If we feel that the available controls are of limited effectiveness, this can lead to us dismissing the threat. Overconfidence, over-optimism or over-familiarity may act to reduce our appraisal of a hazard as significant. There are also well-known biases in individual risk perception which will influence our appraisal of a hazard.

People are bad at judging probability and especially bad at judging risk. This is important because accident rates tend to be higher in groups of people who estimate risks as low. Typically we underestimate the risks attached to our own work. This tendency is greater in familiar situations or where we choose ourselves to take a risk.

People with different roles in the same workplace may judge risks differently. In general we make a lower risk estimation of our own job than of other jobs. For example, workers in the construction industry were asked to estimate the risk of falls by different tradesmen. These included carpenters, tile layers, scaffolders, painters and steel erectors. Each of these groups made consistent judgements but overestimated the risks of trades other than their own by about 10%. They all underestimated their own risks.

To improve our appreciation of risks we need information about the hazard, risk estimates, exposure modes, and available control measures. If individual workers can be made to feel personally vulnerable then this is also helpful. Fear-inducing messages are not usually advisable since people are more likely to reject a threatening fear-inducing message and to assume that the message is for someone else. Constant pressure is needed to make sure that judgements of risk are realistic.

Believing you can control the risks

We ask ourselves how effective our actions might be in controlling the risks. We weigh up the benefits of carrying out safe behaviours against the costs we will incur. For example, a construction worker may weigh up the costs such as physical discomfort of wearing a hard hat in hot weather against the benefits. The ‘costs’ are typically time, reduced productivity and physical discomfort. We also consider how effective the available actions or procedures may be and whether we can carry them out. For example if a health worker believes that they will be able to dispose of used needles safely this will influence their safe behaviour.

Behaving safely

Maintaining safe behaviour is highly dependent on safety culture including group norms and workplace influences.

If supervisors and managers appear to condone unsafe behaviour in order to achieve productivity goals then safe behaviour will be less likely. Other barriers to safe behaviour include:

• equipment which is not readily available or in good order;
• not being trained to use the equipment provided;
• a job which is designed in a way which makes it hard to behave safely; and
• other peoples’ risk-taking behaviours.

A major influence will be what we see our co-workers doing. So if very few other workers wear hearing protection in a noisy environment then this will not encourage us to comply with the safe behaviour. Managers and supervisors need to be aware that group social norms for safe behaviour exist. They need to set a good example and positively influence such standards of behaviour.

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Home / HSE News / Articles / How to deliver a safety presentation that stands out

How to deliver a safety presentation that stands out

Safety presentations are essential to ensure a business is up to date on health and safety regulations, as well as employers learning the skills to identify potential hazards in the workplace. 

However, it’s vital this information is retained so it can be used when a situation arises during the working day. This shows how important it is to stand out in your presentation, so the critical information can be retained by the audience. 

If you are struggling to make your presentation stand out, it may be beneficial to consider some presentation coaching .

What can be included in a safety presentation? 

Although many presentations can include different attributes, as an overview a safety presentation should include how to prevent hazards in the workplace, legislation and enforcement, risk assessments, and emergency plans.

The Health and Safety Executive has put together some useful resources that can be beneficial when putting together a presentation, as a starting point. 

Tailor your presentation to your audience

If you have access, learning about the audience before delivering the presentation may be beneficial during the preparation, as well as the execution of the safety presentation. 

For example, if the team you are presenting to newer employees in a business, you could decide to invite experienced workers who can give an insight into past health and safety hazards experienced during their careers. 

This personal touch to your safety presentation will be personalised and relatable, increasing the likelihood that it will stand out. 

Use visual aids for communication

One of the main ways your presentation can stand out is by utilizing visual aids. Visual aids can help retain comprehension and retention, which will lead to a higher quality safety presentation. This can be achieved through high-quality graphics, images, videos, and graphics that make the presentation more appealing. This is particularly important when specific slides may come across as less engaging. 

Practice what you are going to say

In order to help your presentation stand out and appear confident to your audience, practicing beforehand will help put you at ease, as well as reduce the need to look at notes or the presentation slides. This will allow you to engage more with the audience directly, even asking them to get involved. Not to mention that speaking with confidence will bring more authority and clarity.  

Be current with industry trends

Being aware of current trends in the health and safety industry will help the audience resonate with what you are saying. If the safety presentation is about safety regulations that don’t relate to your industry, then it’s likely the information will not be retained by the audience. 

For example, if you are discussing office set-ups, relating to home working and the pandemic will help the audience relate to the pandemic in 2020, and will reduce the chance of people switching off. 

We hope this article has helped you understand how you can tailor a safety presentation to help it stand out. 

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February 17th, 2016   |    Safety

Personal Risk and What Influences Our Safety Decisions

If you’ve heard statements such as the above at your organization, you have a risk-tolerance issue.

Risk tolerance is defined as the willingness of a worker or a group to take safety risks. This article looks at the factors that influence how much risk is acceptable to individuals or groups. My research into risk tolerance has helped formulate training for management, supervisors and workers, on how to recognize and minimize risk tolerance.

Understanding risk tolerance in workplace culture can be key in improving safety performance.

Hazard Recognition and Risk Tolerance There are three distinct cognitive processes that occur when assessing hazards and determining how much risk they present. The key processes involved in risk tolerance are:

• Hazard identification – visual or sensory input that identifies a situation that could lead to risk. Do I see it?
• Risk perception – processing sensory information to determine exactly how and to what extent those hazards could impact our well being. Do I understand it?
• Risk tolerance – the cognitive process of deciding to proceed with the task or activity, to change how we do it, or to not do it at all. Do I accept or reject the risk?

Addressing Risk Tolerance In general, most organizations have systems in place for hazard identification. These systems include training for workers on how to recognize hazards, a hazard-reporting system to get hazards addressed (i.e., HID forms) and tools for identifying hazards associated with specific tasks (i.e., job safety analysis).

Risk perception deals with the ability of workers to understand how a hazard could result in an incident or harm. It is dependent on their background, knowledge and their ability to predict the consequences being exposed to the hazard. They may need additional assistance in this area through a review of incidents and safety alerts, which show how hazards have or could have resulted in an incident.

The greatest issue that remains is risk tolerance. Generally, we (individuals, work groups and even entire companies) may have an acceptance of risk that is too high. Processes are needed to help workers with these risk-based decisions. Processes that are available usually rely on the trust that a worker will be able to determine the acceptable level of risk, based on the hazard-recognition training they have received.

The solutions to risk tolerance can be found in the processes that help individuals and groups use their hazard-recognition skills to better understand risks. Therefore, they will be better able to make sound decisions on whether to accept the risk, change the approach, or reject the risks associated with the task or activity.

The 10 Influencing Factors For Risk Tolerance: The research revealed a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic factors impacting individual and group decisions.

1. Overestimating capability or experience Greater risks are tolerated when there is a belief in one’s physical ability, strength, agility, reaction time and reflexes in preventing an incident. A worker may overestimate their strength and will thus accept more risk when applying force, or may overestimate his or her agility and accept the risk of a poorly prepared working surface. This factor also relates to situations where an experienced worker will rely on his or her years of experience and knowledge of the task as justification for doing the work in a way that may have higher risk.

2. Familiarity with the task (or complacency) This occurs when a worker has completed a task successfully multiple times and has the skill to complete it successfully without thinking — a state referred to as “unconsciously competent.” Research shows that workers in this state can become unaware of the potential hazards. This kind of autopilot complacency occurs without the worker having to refocus or refresh, thus creating a blind spot to potential hazards.

3. Seriousness of the outcome Here, the increased risk is based on the premise that something could go wrong. However, the worker underestimates how serious the consequences might be. A worker may perceive the outcome of a hazard to be minor, possibly resulting in a scratch or bruise, where in reality, the outcome could be significantly more serious.

4. Voluntary actions and being in control There is an increased acceptance of risk in performing voluntary activities. Once we have made a decision to participate in an activity, either work-based or off the job, a process called “confirmation bias” occurs, and we convince ourselves that it is safe, despite the actual risks. This confirmation bias is exemplified when we have control, or perceive that we have control, over the task. Control gives us the feeling of confidence in our ability and an underestimation of the risk occurs.

5. Personal experience with a serious outcome Personal reality events can stick with an individual for a long time — sometimes a lifetime. They can impact a person’s decisions on performing tasks they associate with an event, and it can result in being intolerant of any risk associated with a similar task. However, a worker who has never had a firsthand experience with a serious consequence will be prepared to accept more risk because they may be skeptical that something serious could actually happen. Newer workers need to hear firsthand accounts of past serious incidents to reduce their unconscious risk acceptance.

6. Cost of noncompliance Personal cost can impact a person’s decision to accept risk and an individual can be influenced by how high the cost of noncompliance will be. If the cost of noncompliance (taking a risk), is going to be high, such as losing a job or receiving a fine or penalty, the person may decide to conduct themselves in a less risky manner.

7. Overconfidence in the equipment Overconfidence occurs when a worker places excessive or unwarranted trust that the equipment or tool will always perform exactly as designed. When a worker becomes familiar with particular tools and equipment, and has not experienced any failures, he or she can become overly trusting that the equipment or tool will never fail. This can occur with simple equipment such as hand tools, or even complex systems such as computer controls.

8. Overconfidence in personal protective equipment Risks become more common when the limitations of the personal protective equipment (PPE) are not understood. Higher levels of risk are accepted when workers are overconfident in the safety equipment they use and their belief that if something does go wrong, the PPE will keep them from harm. An example of this would be a perception that an ‘impact resistant’ glove could prevent a finger amputation.

9. Profit or gain from actions This risk tolerance factor stems from the desire for profit, gain and/or recognition. This occurs at an individual level where a person may profit from their own action. This could be finishing sooner by taking shortcuts, or it could be a company trying to profit from taking greater risks. The gain could be extrinsic with direct financial impact, or it could be intrinsic with the gain of pride, status or a general good feeling. People may dangerously increase their risk tolerance when the rewards are perceived to be greater than the risk.

10. Role models accepting risk The level of risk accepted by our role models and mentors will directly impact the level of risk individuals will accept. Workers will watch their peers, supervisors and mentors to determine how they should behave and proceed. Modeling after a mentor or role model who accepts risk will result in the worker accepting the risk. Determining who the role models are in a workgroup , and what their risk tolerance is, is important.

Finding solutions It is important for an organization, specifically its safety professionals and line management, to understand the influencing factors for risk tolerance. They must:

• Understand the principles behind each of the factors;
• Know how to identify the presence of each factor in the workplace;
• Understand how to address each factor to reduce the risk; and
• Be able to explain and articulate the factors for front-line workers and supervisors to help them reduce the acceptance of risk.

Using last-minute risk assessments (stop and think), performing a job safety analysis, and processes that foster safety communication between peers, help workers identify and address risk-tolerance factors. Management has the responsibility to create and sustain a safety culture where workers are knowledgeable of the risk-tolerance factors, and must be willing to identify and address them.

About the Author

Dave Fennell, Dave Fennell Safety Inc.

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• Safety Management

Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs

Hazard prevention and control.

Effective controls protect workers from workplace hazards; help avoid injuries, illnesses, and incidents; minimize or eliminate safety and health risks; and help employers provide workers with safe and healthful working conditions. The processes described in this section will help employers prevent and control hazards identified in the previous section.

To effectively control and prevent hazards, employers should:

• Involve workers, who often have the best understanding of the conditions that create hazards and insights into how they can be controlled.
• Identify and evaluate options for controlling hazards, using a "hierarchy of controls."
• Use a hazard control plan to guide the selection and implementation of controls, and implement controls according to the plan.
• Develop plans with measures to protect workers during emergencies and nonroutine activities.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls to determine whether they continue to provide protection, or whether different controls may be more effective. Review new technologies for their potential to be more protective, more reliable, or less costly.

Action item 1: Identify control options

Action item 2: select controls, action item 3: develop and update a hazard control plan, action item 4: select controls to protect workers during nonroutine operations and emergencies, action item 5: implement selected controls in the workplace, action item 6: follow up to confirm that controls are effective.

A wealth of information exists to help employers investigate options for controlling identified hazards. Before selecting any control options, it is essential to solicit workers' input on their feasibility and effectiveness.

How to accomplish it

Collect, organize, and review information with workers to determine what types of hazards may be present and which workers may be exposed or potentially exposed. Information available in the workplace may include:

• Review sources such as OSHA standards and guidance, industry consensus standards, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) publications, manufacturers' literature, and engineering reports to identify potential control measures. Keep current on relevant information from trade or professional associations.
• Investigate control measures used in other workplaces and determine whether they would be effective at your workplace.
• Get input from workers who may be able to suggest and evaluate solutions based on their knowledge of the facility, equipment, and work processes.
• For complex hazards, consult with safety and health experts, including OSHA's On-site Consultation Program .

Employers should select the controls that are the most feasible, effective, and permanent.

• Eliminate or control all serious hazards (hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm) immediately.
• Use interim controls while you develop and implement longer-term solutions.
• Select controls according to a hierarchy that emphasizes engineering solutions (including elimination or substitution) first, followed by safe work practices, administrative controls, and finally personal protective equipment.
• Avoid selecting controls that may directly or indirectly introduce new hazards. Examples include exhausting contaminated air into occupied work spaces or using hearing protection that makes it difficult to hear backup alarms.
• Review and discuss control options with workers to ensure that controls are feasible and effective.
• Use a combination of control options when no single method fully protects workers.

Note: Whenever possible, select equipment, machinery, and materials that are inherently safer based on the application of "Prevention through Design" (PtD) principles. Apply PtD when making your own facility, equipment, or product design decisions. For more information, see the link to the NIOSH PtD initiative in Additional Resources .

A hazard control plan describes how the selected controls will be implemented. An effective plan will address serious hazards first. Interim controls may be necessary, but the overall goal is to ensure effective long-term control of hazards. It is important to track progress toward completing the control plan and periodically (at least annually and when conditions, processes or equipment change) verify that controls remain effective.

• List the hazards needing controls in order of priority.
• Assign responsibility for installing or implementing the controls to a specific person or persons with the power or ability to implement the controls.
• Establish a target completion date.
• Plan how you will track progress toward completion.
• Plan how you will verify the effectiveness of controls after they are installed or implemented.

The hazard control plan should include provisions to protect workers during nonroutine operations and foreseeable emergencies. Depending on your workplace, these could include fires and explosions; chemical releases; hazardous material spills; unplanned equipment shutdowns; infrequent maintenance activities; natural and weather disasters; workplace violence; terrorist or criminal attacks; disease outbreaks (e.g., pandemic influenza); or medical emergencies. Nonroutine tasks, or tasks workers don't normally do, should be approached with particular caution. Prior to initiating such work, review job hazard analyses and job safety analyses with any workers involved and notify others about the nature of the work, work schedule, and any necessary precautions.

• Develop procedures to control hazards that may arise during nonroutine operations (e.g., removing machine guarding during maintenance and repair).
• Develop or modify plans to control hazards that may arise in emergency situations.
• Procure any equipment needed to control emergency-related hazards.
• Assign responsibilities for implementing the emergency plan.
• Conduct emergency drills to ensure that procedures and equipment provide adequate protection during emergency situations.

Note: Depending on your location, type of business, and materials stored or used on site, authorities including local fire and emergency response departments, state agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and OSHA may have additional requirements for emergency plans. Ensure that your procedures comply with these requirements.

Once hazard prevention and control measures have been identified, they should be implemented according to the hazard control plan.

• Implement hazard control measures according to the priorities established in the hazard control plan.
• When resources are limited, implement measures on a "worst-first" basis, according to the hazard ranking priorities (risk) established during hazard identification and assessment. (Note, however, that regardless of limited resources, employers have an obligation to protect workers from recognized, serious hazards.)
• Promptly implement any measures that are easy and inexpensive—e.g., general housekeeping, removal of obvious tripping hazards such as electrical cords, basic lighting—regardless of the level of hazard they involve.

To ensure that control measures are and remain effective, employers should track progress in implementing controls, inspect and evaluate controls once they are installed, and follow routine preventive maintenance practices.

• Have all control measures been implemented according to the hazard control plan?
• Have engineering controls been properly installed and tested?
• Have workers been appropriately trained so that they understand the controls, including how to operate engineering controls, safe work practices, and PPE use requirements?
• Are controls being used correctly and consistently?
• Conduct regular inspections (and industrial hygiene monitoring, if indicated) to confirm that engineering controls are operating as designed.
• Evaluate control measures to determine if they are effective or need to be modified. Involve workers in the evaluation of the controls. If controls are not effective, identify, select, and implement further control measures that will provide adequate protection.
• Confirm that work practices, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment use policies are being followed.
• Conduct routine preventive maintenance of equipment, facilities, and controls to help prevent incidents due to equipment failure.

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Humanising Health, Safety and Risk

Presentation Tips for Safety People

July 29, 2020 by Dr Rob Long Leave a Comment

Please also consider our latest learning article: Learning Styles Matter

What is the point of knowing the Act, regulation, systems, procedures and standards if you either can’t communicate or help others learn? Poor pedagogy (theory of teaching) is one of the main reasons why the safety message doesn’t get across indeed, sometimes it drives the very opposite. Poor pedagogy can encourage people not to listen, drives the illusion that they have listened and desensitizes people toward all messages in safety.

When I taught Introduction to Teaching in the Faculty of Education in a previous life I always started lecture 1 day 1 with the question: what is learning all about? Often I would get the response that it was about content and curriculum. I then suggested that if one believed learning was about content, they shouldn’t go into teaching. I often suggested I would help them get out of teaching before they incurred a HECS debt and later learnt that kids wouldn’t like them. Learning is not about content but about relationships. If relationship is motivating and inspiring you will be able to learn anything. Some also believe that teaching is about ‘technique’. Good technique is only successful when relationships are healthy.

My children used to come home from school and I never asked them what they learned, I usually asked them if they had a happy day, had they had fun and who they played with. If people experience meaningful and positive relationships, are respected as people not objects and engaged in purpose, they will be inspired and motivated to learn.

It is amazing how safety believes that lecture and telling is learning. No wonder people feel they achieve nothing in toolbox talks and inductions. Like so much that is left out of safety training pedagogy is critical for safety people. If I had my way I would take all parrot training about the Act, regulation, standards and systems out of WHS training and shift the focus onto people. All spoon feeding and ‘dumb down’ training creates dependent dumb down outcomes.

So, if you want some tips about presentation of safety here are a few tips:

• Maintaining healthy and respectful relationships should be the foundation of safety engagement and motivation for ownership.
• The last kind of person people listen to is a safety crusader. The crusader is on a campaign, always freaking out about ‘pissy’ things and adopts the modus operandi of dominating and controlling others. Their motto is: ‘I know what is best for you’.
• Learn some of the fundamentals of effective communication and consultation.

Learn how to ask open questions. People know that rhetorical begs the answer that the presenter knows is right, it is fake questioning.

Don’t be predictable or fall into patterns that simply bore people off their feet. Be imaginative, creative and consult brilliant presenters and ask them what they do.

Don’t mistake entertainment for education or indoctrination for education. Parrot learning is not learning.

Create an environment and climate that is non-judgmental and interesting.

Try to ‘scaffold’ learning, make small wins and build on them rather than massive content dumps that simply flood people and achieve nothing.

Endeavour to ‘meet’ people outside of the classroom setting, take an interest in people and what interests them.

Try to diversify your method of presentation, some tips are in the table Figure 1. Methods of Presentation .

Figure 1. Methods of Presentation

The place to start with improving presentation to others is not technique or content but knowing self and how to develop relationships. In the Human Dymensions Presentations Skills Four Day Workshop we firstly diagnose your own learning style before we map it against Gardner’s 8 learning styles represented below in Figure 2. Gardner’s Eight Learning Styles.

Figure 2. Gardner’s Eight Learning Styles.

Before safety people just go grabbing at any technique that may seem entertaining some thinking about the fundamentals of learning is required. Presentations that target only one learning style or technique are most likely going to be ineffective. I cover some of this in Risk Makes Sense on Learning About Learning and in latest book on The Zone of Reciprocation in Following-Leading in Risk. In our training we use a range of micro-training (Video) techniques to improve style and method but these only work when the fundamentals of 1-9 in the list above are in place.

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Principle One

Put patient's interests first, principle two, communicate effectively with patients, principle three, obtain valid consent, principle four, maintain and protect patients' information, principle five, have a clear and effective complaints procedure, principle six, work with colleagues in a way that is in patients' best interests, principle seven, maintain, develop and work within your professional knowledge and skills, principle eight, raise concerns if patients are at risk, principle nine, make sure your personal behaviour maintains patients' confidence in you and the dental profession.

• The 9 Principles
• 1 Put patients' interests first
• 2 Communicate effectively with patients
• 3 Obtain valid consent
• 4 Maintain and protect patients' information
• 5 Have a clear and effective complaints procedure
• 6 Work with colleagues in a way that is in patients' best interests
• 7 Maintain, develop and work within your professional knowledge and skills
• 8 Raise concerns if patients are at risk
• 9 Make sure your personal behaviour maintains patients' confidence in you and the dental profession

Make sure your personal behaviour maintains patients’ confidence in you and the dental profession

Patients expect:.

• That all members of the dental team will maintain appropriate personal and professional behaviour
• That they can trust and have confidence in you as a dental professional
• That they can trust and have confidence in the dental profession

Standards & their guidance

• 9.1.1 You must treat all team members, other colleagues and members of the public fairly, with dignity and in line with the law.
• 9.1.2 You must not make disparaging remarks about another member of the dental team in front of patients. Any concerns you may have about a colleague should be raised through the proper channels.
• 9.1.3 You should not publish anything that could affect patients’ and the public’s confidence in you, or the dental profession, in any public media, unless this is done as part of raising a concern. Public media includes social networking sites, blogs and other social media. In particular, you must not make personal, inaccurate or derogatory comments about patients or colleagues. See our guidance on social networking for more information.
• 9.1.4 You must maintain appropriate boundaries in the relationships you have with patients. You must not take advantage of your position as a dental professional in your relationships with patients.
• 9.2.1 If you know, or suspect, that patients may be at risk because of your health, behaviour or professional performance, you must consult a suitably qualified colleague immediately and follow advice on how to put the interests of patients first.
• 9.2.2 You must not rely on your own assessment of the risk you pose to patients. You should seek occupational health advice or other appropriate advice as soon as possible.
• 9.3.1 You must inform the GDC immediately if you are subject to any criminal proceedings anywhere in the world. See our guidance on reporting criminal proceedings for more information.
• 9.3.2 You must inform the GDC immediately if you are subject to the fitness to practise procedures of another healthcare regulator, either in the United Kingdom or abroad.
• 9.3.3 You must inform the GDC immediately if a finding has been made against your registration by another healthcare regulator, either in the United Kingdom or abroad.
• 9.3.4 You must inform the GDC immediately if you are placed on a barred list held by either the Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland.
• 9.4.1 If you receive a letter from the GDC in connection with concerns about your fitness to practise, you must respond fully within the time specified in the letter. You should also seek advice from your indemnity provider or professional association.
• Commissioners of health;
• other healthcare regulators;
• Hospital Trusts carrying out any investigation;
• the coroner or Procurator Fiscal acting to investigate a death;
• any other regulatory body;
• the Health and Safety Executive; and
• any solicitor, barrister or advocate representing patients or colleagues.

Learning Material & case studies

Case studies for principle 9.

Frequently Asked Questions

Further guidance.

•   Social networking dos and don'ts
•   Standards for the Dental Team
• Scenario 1 - Drink driving conviction

37 Wimpole Street London W1G 8DQ

www.gdc-uk.org

We want to make sure all of our services are accessible to everyone. Therefore if you would like a copy of these standards in a different format (for example, in large print or audio) or in a language other than English, please contact us.

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Fitness to practise

If there are concerns that shortcomings in a dental professional’s conduct or competence that are so great as to put patients at serious risk, or seriously damage public confidence in dentistry, we will investigate. When appropriate we will take action to mitigate that risk. Concerns may arise directly, for example, from a patient, by referral from another body (for example, a police notification of a criminal caution or conviction), or from other sources.

When we say that someone is 'fit to practise' we mean that they have the appropriate skills, knowledge, character and health to practise their profession safely and effectively. However, fitness to practise is not just about a practitioner’s clinical performance or health.

A practitioner’s fitness to practise also includes any actions which they may have taken which affect public confidence in dental professionals and their regulation. This may include matters not directly related to professional practice, for example, committing a criminal act.

We investigate:

• serious or repeated mistakes in clinical care, for example mistakes in diagnosis or dental procedure.
• failure to examine a patient properly, to secure a patient’s informed consent before treatment, keep satisfactory records, or to respond reasonably to a patient’s needs
• not having professional indemnity insurance
• cross infection issues (for example, using dirty clinical equipment during treatment)
• serious breaches of a patient’s confidentiality
• indications of a criminal offence including fraud, theft or dishonesty by a dental professional
• poor health or a medical condition that significantly affects a dental professional’s ability to treat patients safely.

If a registrant’s fitness to practise is found to be impaired, we may decide to:

• take no action
• issue a reprimand
• place conditions on registration
• suspend registration
• remove an individual from the register.

There is also an appeals process.

How impactful is your organisation’s health and safety presentation?

Apr 02, 2023 by maurice decastro in presentation skills , public speaking.

A health and safety presentation is arguably one of the most important presentations made in the workplace today.

They can save lives.

Despite their significance, some organisations are oblivious to the negative and damaging culture they are creating through the content they insist their health and safety officers present.

The paradox

A health and safety presentation can:

– Save lives

– Reduce the risk of injury

– Reduce costs

– Manage and control risk

– Improve morale

– Reduce the threat of legal action

– Demonstrate and promote corporate responsibility

Despite their enormous value and importance, the typical health and safety presentation in the workplace today is one of the most dreaded.

Sadly, I’ve seen the blood drain from the face of professionals the moment they are asked to attend a health and safety presentation.

All too often, a health and safety presentation is:

– Fraught with bullet points (I’ve counted 14 on one slide)

– Filled with jargon and legal speak that no one really understands

– Incredibly lengthy

– Designed to protect the organisation more than the individual

– Little more than a ‘tick box’ exercise

– Boring

– Forgotten by the time we return to our desks

– A complex document presented on a visual while the presenter speaks over it

The sad truth is that, one of the most important organisational presentations in the workplace becomes the one that most people least look forward to.

The irony continues in that:

– Most people don’t like going to them

– Health and safety officers don’t like giving them

– They do little to actually promote health and safety at work

– The company feels protected because they can say, ‘we told them’

Health and safety or a disclaimer?

Most of the health and safety professionals we work with tell us that they entered the field because they are passionate about making a difference in this area. Many tell us that they are extremely frustrated because they know that the content they are presenting doesn’t actively encourage improved health and safety.

They tell us that they are designed to simply demonstrate that they have complied with their obligation.

It’s time for change

I realise of course that we live in a highly litigious world and that every organisation’s priority is to protect itself. That said, we can protect our business whilst simultaneously protecting others far more effectively.

One doesn’t have to be at the expense of the other.

Having a ‘tick box’ health and safety presentation doesn’t ultimately serve anyone well.

How to make your organisation’s health and safety presentation memorable

Fortunately, we do occasionaly come across a brilliant health and safety presentation. Here’s what these presenters do differently, they:

– Ditch the bullet points

– Get rid of the jargon

– Put people first rather than policy

– Put themselves in their audience’s shoes

– Focus on health and safety not just protecting the business

– Tell their audience stories

– Make everything they share relevant and impactful

– Keep it real

– Give them examples

– Tell them what they should do

– Use images rather than text

– Stick to one idea per slide

– Speak expressively

– Challenge the status quo

– Don’t make their audience read from a slide

– Never read to them

‘The importance of health and safety in the workplace simply cannot be underestimated. As well as being the law, it is part and parcel of being a good employer to make sure your staff aren’t at risk of any injury as a result of the work they do for you.

It’s not just your staff that health and safety is important for, it’s there to protect any visitors, customers, sub-contractors and the general public who may work for you, do business with you or come into contact with your organisation in any way.’  Sarah Benstead – Breathe

If you’d like to learn how to craft and deliver a powerful health and safety presentation:

– Book yourself onto a powerful  public speaking course .

– Invest in some really good one to one  public speaking coaching .

– Get yourself some excellent  presentation training

Image courtesy of Canva.com

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• All Around approach to Hygiene

Personal Hygiene – key in infection prevention 

Personal hygiene plays a key role in infection prevention in health care. But what is personal hygiene and how do you implement this in practice?

Personal hygiene in the health care sector

Microbes spread easily in health care due to physical contact between health care professionals, patients and relatives. Maintaining a good personal hygiene significantly reduces the risk of cross-contamination and transmission of contagious infections.

Let Abena provide the best help in preventing infections through personal hygiene.

Contact local distributor to order your staff involvement kit.

Contact your local distributor

The importance of correct hand washing

According to WHO , hands are the main pathway of germ transmission during health care. Good and effective hand hygiene is therefore one of the most important steps to avoid the transmission of harmful germs and prevent health care associated infections.

Read more on good hand hygiene here .

Basic guidelines for proper personal hygiene

The definition of good personal hygiene is often subjective, however basic hygienic guidelines for proper hygiene are:

• Avoid hand and/or wrist jewelry as well as piercings (that can come in contact with patients)
• Avoid long nails, nail polish and fake nails
• Always keep hair short, or fixed and beards and mustaches short
• Always use proper coughing and sneezing techniques
• No long sleeves – not longer than the elbow
• If you have an open wound, always use a water resistant band aid so that hands can be wash and disinfected 

Pay attention to using correct coughing and sneezing techniques in order to prevent microbes from spreading through the air. The face must always be averted when sneezing or coughing, and it is important to use a paper handkerchief in front of your mouth, or use your elbow. Immediately discard the handkerchief in a waste bin and disinfect your hands.   

Hand disinfection or hand washing?

In health care, hand disinfection can only stand by itself when the hands are visibly clean and dry, and hand washing should only be performed if the hands are visibly soiled or wet. If the hands need to be washed, they should automatically also be disinfected.

Before applying an alcohol-based disinfectant hands should be dry, as disinfectants increase the skin’s permeability and contribute to breaking down the skins barriers. If the skin’s permeability and suppleness are broken down, the skin can act as an entry port for microbes.

Know your hand hygiene – test yourself here .

Taking good care of nails and skin  

For health care professionals, daily procedures of washing, disinfecting and drying can take its toll on the hands and leave the skin dry and chapped. To keep your hands healthy and fit for fight it is important to care for both hands and nails by using lotions, or a moisturizer with a high lipids content during the night if the hands require extra care.

Always asses your hands to keep good hand hygiene.

Gloves are a trusted friend

Gloves should be worn by health care professionals when performing tasks related to personal hygiene or handling of bodily fluids. They can be used for clean and unclean tasks to protect both health care professionals and patients from transmittable diseases.

Always remember – use of gloves do not replace the need for cleaning your hands!

More on gloves:  why gloves are your best friend in fighting infections

Abena’s 4 tips for Infection Prevention

Together we can ensure a safe workplace

1. Avoid cross contamination : Never bring anything contaminated into contact with something clean.

2. Clean or discard :  What is contaminated must be either cleaned or thrown away.

3. Ensure basic hygiene : Apply proper personal - and hand hygiene.

4. Protect yourself : Use the right protective wear and the right gloves in the right way.

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ABOUT ABENA

Abena, founded in 1953, is a Danish, family-owned manufacturer and wholesaler of healthcare solutions and related products, headquartered in Aabenraa in Southern Denmark. The Abena Group, which is represented by subsidiaries in a long list of countries, supplies more than 25,000 products and operates in more than 80 countries across the globe.

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