Module 2 Assign | Funeral Services

Module 2 Assignment: Health & Safety within the funeral business

The main purpose of this assignment is to enhance candidate learning - theses assignments will require you to look through some of your work based documentation, procedures and practices in order that you become more familiar with them. Completing these assignments will also help you with collection of evidence for your portfolio.

The following information may be beneficial when completing this assignment:

Help and guidance for task 1:

For task one it is important that you choose an activity that is relevant to your work AND includes all three of the following hazard types:

Biological hazards (e.g. blood, fluid and other infection sources etc.)
Physical hazards (e.g. heavy weight, sharps etc.)
Chemical hazard (e.g. formalin, cleaning solutions etc.)

Try to keep your chosen activity broad in scope (e.g. embalming a body or an activity involving moving, transporting or preparing the deceased or even cleaning of a fridge space / work area).

Help and guidance for task 2:

This activity will involve you completing a simple risk assessment form - remember to use the notes taken during your presentation, but here is re-cap:

What is a risk assessment?

A risk assessment is a systematic approach to evaluating all the risks that may be involved with an activity in your workplace - it is an important process in protecting staff, visitors and the organisations. The Health and Safety Executive says “a risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of what hazards, in your work, could cause harm to people”.

Do you know what systematic means?
Do you know what evaluating means?

What is the different between a Hazard and risk?

A hazard is something that can cause harm, e.g. electricity, chemicals, working up a ladder, noise, a keyboard, a bully at work, stress, etc. A risk is the chance, high or low, that any hazard will actually cause somebody harm.

What is a risk rating?

A Risk Rating is a way of quantifying the risk associated with your activity. It works by using a simple multiplication table based on:

Likelihood x Impact = risk rating

This gives you a score which is then graded using a traffic light system:

What are control measures?

Control measures are actions and/or activities that are taken to prevent, eliminate or reduce the occurrence of a hazard that you have identified.

A risk assessment is not about creating huge amounts of paperwork but rather about identifying sensible measures to control the risks in your workplace.

You are probably already taking steps to protect your employees, but your risk assessment will help you decide whether you have covered all you need to.

Completing your risk assessment:

1. Fill all the details at the top of the form:

Activity: a brief sentence describing your activity

Name: your name (or the person completing the risk assessment).

Date: the actual date you carried out the risk assessment.

Location: the room, department or area where the assessment was carried out (usually where the activity is being carried out).

Affected persons: remember to consider staff, visitors and family members if appropriate.

2. Completing the table

Table colum 1: List two hazards taken from task one – remember to include different hazard types for each: (e.g. Biological, Physical or a Chemical hazard).

Table colum 2: List the current controls in place (e.g. lifting equipment, PPE such as apron and gloves, SOPs, use of disinfectants etc.)

Risk score: Next calculate the risk score (by multiplying both the likelihood number and impact numbers together) and then grading, for example:

Example 1: Physical hazard:

Lifting of the deceased

Likelihood of this happening using current controls e.g. 1

Consequence of this happening using current controls e.g. 3

1 x 3 = risk score of 3 (Green grade)

Example 2 Biological hazard:

Blood spillage

Likelihood of this happening using current controls e.g. 3

Consequence of this happening using current controls e.g. 2

3 x 2 = risk score of 6 (Yellow grade)

Example 3: Chemical hazard

Using formalin

Likelihood of this happening using current controls e.g. 4

Consequence of this happening using current controls e.g. 3

4 x 3 = risk score of 12 (Amber grade)

When completing your risk scores, any grades in amber and red are not acceptable and you will need to include additional control measures to reduce the risk further to yellow or green. New or additional controls, such as using lifting equipment, additional PPE or use of ventilation systems will depend on the activity.

Remember that any new or additional control measures needing more finance, resources, staff or specialist equipment need to be reasonable and practicable.

All risk assessment need periodic reviews – however ones with higher risk grades (e.g. amber and red) will need reviewing more frequently.

Example of a completed risk assessment for a mortuary activity

Help and guidance for task 3:

For this task you will need to outline the 5 steps you took in producing your risk assessment (s) and briefly describe how you did each of these:

1. Checking / identifying hazards

2. Who may be harmed and why

3. Evaluate the risks (e.g. risk scores)

4. Establish control measures (e.g. use of PPE)

5. Review and revise RA (if any of the above change, also on a regular basis or if you have any amber of red grades).

Help and guidance for task 4:

For this task you will need to produce a floor plan and mark on it the positions of emergency equipment and signs (hint: check if a floor plan is available for your area - these may be on the wall or in the departments emergency / contingency plans). Include as many of the following as possible:

Fire exits and signs
Alarm points
Smoke detectors
Fire door
Fire instructions
Fire extinguishers
First aid kits
Hand wash station
Eye wash station

Example flood plan showing key areas and fire exits

Help and guidance for task 5:

Take a look at your local H&S safety notice board or any posters around your area of work and describe what information can be found (you may also take a photograph if you like). The main areas of interest include:

Waste disposal information
Procedures in event of fire
Hand cleaning / washing protocols
First aid or sharps exposure advise

If you have taken a photograph (please ask permission from your line manager in the first instance) ensure you annotate or describe the different sections.

Example H&S notice boards - what posters / notices are available for staff in your business?