Develop and maintain health and safety procedures in life sciences and related industries
Overview
This standard covers the skills you need to develop and maintain a healthy
and safe work environment within life sciences and related industries.
You must comply with all legal, statutory and organizational
Requirements. You will be able to identify and use relevant
understanding, methods and skills to address any health and safety
work environment problems that are well defined but complex and
non-routine. You will take responsibility for overall courses of action,
exercise autonomy and judgement within fairly broad parameters and
understand different perspectives or approaches used within the work
environment.
You will be responsible for courses of action, including, where relevant,
responsibility for the work of others. You will also show how you review
the effectiveness and appropriateness of the methods, actions and results
of your scientific or similar work.
Your underpinning knowledge will enable you to analyse, interpret and
evaluate relevant business and scientific or similar information and
ideas. You will be fully aware of any health, safety and environmental
requirements, and the appropriate legislative and regulatory frameworks,
applicable to your area of responsibility. You will be required to ensure
that safe working practices are maintained throughout, and will
understand the responsibility you owe to yourself and others in the
workplace.
1.
Who this standard is for
The standard is recommended for all staff, but particularly experienced staff
members.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
P1 ensure that your work is carried out in accordance with workplace procedures
to protect yourself and others
P2 use safe practices and the appropriate personal protective clothing and
equipment for the work
P3 identify the health and safety regulations and guidelines relevant to your area
of responsibility
P4 accurately assess health and safety in relation to your work and the workplace
and recognise hazardous materials
P5 ensure that the appropriate people are informed about their duties and
obligations relating to all relevant health and safety regulations and guidelines
P6 provide support to the appropriate people to enable them to work in a healthy,
safe and productive way
P7 ensure that the work environment under your responsibility conforms to
organisational and legal health and safety
P8 identify and monitor scientific or similar activities and rectify breaches in health
and safety requirements promptly in accordance with organisational
procedures
P9 identify and recommend health and safety improvements to your work
area/environment
P10 record information regarding health and safety and the work environment in the
appropriate workplace information system
P11 present the results of the work done to the appropriate people, in accordance
with departmental and organisational procedures
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
K1 the health and safety requirements of the area in which you are carrying out
the activities
K2 the implications of not taking account of legislation, regulations, standards and
guidelines when conducting the activities
K3 the standard operating procedures and manufacturers’ instructions, as set
down in local operating manuals and schemes of work
K4 the importance of selecting and using the relevant personal protective
equipment (PPE), including protective clothing, gloves and eye protection when
handling hazardous materials
K5 the specific safety precautions to be taken when working with scientific
and related equipment and computer-based systems (to include such things as
safety guidance relating to the use of visual display unit (VDU) equipment and
work station environment (such as lighting, seating, positioning of equipment),
and repetitive strain injury (RSI)
K6 the location and correct use of fire alarm call points and emergency equipment
K7 the lines of communication and responsibilities in your department, and their
links with health and safety representatives and the rest of the organisation
K8 the limits of your own authority and to whom you should report if you
have problems that you cannot resolve
K9 the roles and responsibilities of yourself and others under the health and safety
legislation
K10 the principles and practice of risk assessment, and how to ensure that the work
environment is effectively monitored
how to assess current working conditions and identify possible areas
K11 for improvement, and the organisational procedures for recommending
improvements to the work environment
K12 how to communicate effectively with team members, colleagues, line managers
and people outside your organisation
K13 the codes of practice relevant to developing and maintaining a healthy, safe
work environment
K14 the types of support that it may be necessary to provide on health and