1.4 Types of Settings

• Health Care Environments
• Care Environments
• Child Care Environments
• Public Environments
• Transport
• Safeguarding
• DBS Checks

e.g. intensive care unit in a hospital, clinic, GP surgery or dentist.

Potential Risks:

• involvement with body fluids that contain pathogens and carry infectious diseases
• coming into contact with hazardous chemicals
• stress

e.g. an individual's home, a residential care home or a nursing home.

Potential Risks:

• vulnerable residents may have vulnerable immune systems that can be damaged by illnesses such as leukaemia and thereofre can make them more suscptible to infections.
  
• individuals living in care environments may also have additional visual or mobility impairments making them more susceptible to falls.

e.g. creches or schools.

Potential Risks:

• children's immune systems are immature and therefore are more suseptible to infections.
• children may not recognise potential hazards such as choking on food, picking food up off the floor, not washing hands after sneezing or using the toilet.

e.g. shopping centres, parks, cinemas.

Potential Risks:

• slips, trips and falls
• food poisoning from food outlets
• harm and injuries can also occur from people that may be abusive or violent

e.g. centre minibus, ambulances.

Potential Risks:

• slips and trips while getting on and off the minibus
• wheelchairs not secured properly
• faulty seatbelts may cause accidents
• body fluids could lead to the spread of infections

Regulator - the official supervisory body that monitors a specific industry or activity.

Risk Assessments - the framework for identifying, avoiding, minimising and controlling risks so that day-to-day duties can be carried out safely.

Safeguarding - proactive measures to reduce the risks of danger, harm and abuse.

Safeguarding adults is needed to ensure that individual's rights to live free from abuse and neglect are protected and that working in partnership to prevent the risk of abuse or neglect takes place.

Adults more likely to require safeguarding are:

• adults with learning difficulties
• adults with physical disabilities
• adults with mental health problems
• older people

Disclosure and Barring Service works with the police and helps to safeguard adults and children from harm and abuse by preventing unsuitable people from working with vulnerable adults and children by:

• processing requestsfor criminal record checks by searching police records and barred list information.
• deciding whether it's appropriate for a person to be placed on or removed from a barred list.
• placing on the DBS children's barred list and adults barred list for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Barred List - a list of individuals held by the DBS who are unsuitable for working with children and or adults.

Step 1 - the employer gets and application form from the DBS or from an organisation that is registered to access DBS checks.

Step 2 - the employer gives the application form to the applicant to fill in and return with documents that prove their indentity.

Step 3 - the employer gives the completed application form to DBS or the registered organisation.

Step 4 - DBS sends a certificate to the applicant; the employer has to ask the applicant to see this.

Step 5 - the eployer can check the status of a DBS certificate online.

DBS checks do not have an expiry date, they can be updated and checked as and when required by employers.

There are 3 types:

Standard - this checks for spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings.

Enhnaced - this includes the same as the standard check as well as any additional information held by the local police that's consdiered relevant to the role being applied for.

Enhanced with list checks - this includes the same as the enhanced check as well as a check of the DBS barred lists.

• Hospitals - may make referals
• Doctors - have training, may make referals
• Nursery - staff trained to spot signs and take actions
• Care home - would raise alarm and become a 'whistle blower'.