Health and Safety Week 2022, an outstanding achievement in RMBI Care Co. Homes

As part of RMBI Care Co.’s commitment to making Health and Safety a priority for everyone in its care homes, the charity has hosted its fourth annual Health and Safety Week (HandS Week) for all staff.

Between 17^th and 23^rd October, the Health and Safety Team organised a wide range of fun and interactive events to help educate and remind staff of the correct procedures and protocols, and what to do when presented with different scenarios.

Brett Edwards, Health and Safety Director at RMBI Care Co., said:

HandS Week is an annual event that raises awareness of what we do, both as an organisation and as individuals, to ensure the continued safety of everyone who lives in, works or visits our care homes.

In addition, each Home held an event during the week to promote Health and Safety awareness of its residents, staff and visitors. The event, which was called ‘Home made PIE,’ comprised:

• Participation: Getting others involved and participating on the events to increase the chance of winning.
• Innovation: Being creative and suggesting how to get the message across to the charity’s stakeholders and how to improve health and safety for all concerned.
• Engagement: By getting involved in competitions and presentations, and supporting colleagues to do the same.

Staff went above and beyond to create ideas that further improve everyone’s safety at all 17 RMBI Care Co. Homes. Homes recorded the event, outlining the activities they had undertaken, and presented new ideas to the Health and Safety Team.

Harry Priestley House, in Doncaster, won £1,000 to enhance the Home for residents and staff. They will be presented with a trophy and certificate, recognising their contribution to improving the Health and Safety culture. The staff created a fire safety video with residents, demonstrating what to do in the event that a person was on fire. It included the creation of t-shirts with Stop, Drop and Roll slogans and one of the residents showing what to do. Staff at the home also attended all of the presentations and had one of the highest number of entries to individual competitions.

The week’s events also included online competitions with £400 worth of high street vouchers available to win, entertaining comedy cartoons, insightful drop-in Q&A zoom sessions, informal presentations and didactic case studies.

Brett Edwards said:

We know that health and safety is not just for one week. However, this gives us the opportunity to really focus on the importance of Health and Safety in general, encouraging participation and innovation through engagement with residents, staff and visitors alike by undertaking activities that stimulate forward thinking and a positive safety culture.

A strong Health and Safety culture is achieved by positive reinforcement, ownership, involvement of stakeholders and a good level of understanding why Health and Safety is so important in a work and home environment.

[Summary: RMBI Care Co. has hosted its fourth annual Health and Safety Week (HandS Week) for all staff. Between 17^th and 23^rd October, the Health and Safety Team organised a wide range of events to help educate and remind staff of the correct procedures and protocols, and what to do when presented with different scenarios.]