Safe Working Environment in a Hairdressing Salon Policy - Essay Example

A Safe Working Environment in a Hairdressing Salon Policy and Procedure Manual Name Instructor’s Name Date Introduction In the labour market, the frequent incidents and accidents that occur depend on either negligence or ignorance. Through the researches carried out by the ministries of labour in a series of countries showed the need to enlighten the workforce in order to stop the scourge (Henderson, 2004, p. 37). The international labour organization in conjunction with other labour organizations introduced health and safety legislations that transfer the responsibility and liability to individuals at their workplaces from the government. The management of the workplaces by the employees should strictly be in line with the self-regulatory style of legislation. Other than that, clarification can be got from organizational and/ or company safety regulations for example and not limited to the industrial training act, employee contract act, health and safety in employment at and accident rehabilitation and insurance compensation act. However, an occupation health and safety core of practice that should best fit my hairdressing salon developed for proper management and implementation of regulations that would enhance safety in the workplace in all aspects of hairdressing (Dennis, 2000, p. 106). The saf3ety manual purposefully designed practically to provide guidance obligatively to achieve and comply with the statutory laws. It is the duty of all stakeholders for instance the salon owner, the employer, the self-employed and employee to care for the surety of for safety and self for both self and others within the workplace. This is a summary document that should assist, guide and enlighten both the employees and the clients on their duties in ensuring that the safety and health are occupationally maintained in order to achiever a conducive working environment within the salon. Assessment of safe working environment Every action or concern that may lead to chances of harm or injury properly identified. However, this can be done through the following methods; evaluating the likelihood of the injury to occur, which may be either highly, likely and unlikely, also the checking into the extent of harm should the accidental event occur i.e. fatal, serous, moderate or no injury at all. The concerned individual should participate in the evaluation process that followed by a formal review. This review will be useful in the establishment of the development objectives and systematic implementation process to meet the significant hazards. In addition to that, this will help identify the additional hazards that may occur due to the alterations of equipment, plant or processes. However, wholesome participation will ensure active employee involvement in the processes/ procedures and the introduction of quality checks for example Kaizen to maintain standardized health and safety quality with approximately zero tolerance to accidents (Janet, 2004). Within the store, there are different substances and equipments kept which when not cautiously done would cause harm, for example some chemicals should be placed under some conducive conditions in order not to have side effects, when not well understood mat causer accident through reacting with both the hairdresser and the client. Apart form that, for example; you place an electric machine in a damp place, the water that drips into the machine may cause electric fire. Therefore, storage is one of the factors that if not looked into could increase the cases of accident. All the personnel should consider the storage policy. Employer, according to (Henderson, 2004, p. 37), the owner of the salon who responsible for the general safety of the salon, equipment, tools, employees and self-employed staff, the employees has a duty to request the business owner to put in place what they feel would enhance security. The hairdressers are responsible for the clients needs with respect to beauty; they have to create a good rapport between them and the client to satisfactory make up the clients. Apart from their routine duties, it is their mandate to ensure the standard of hygiene is maximised to eradicate hazards that accompany unhygienic workplaces. Self-employed staffs for example; people who supply the chemicals and other make-up materials to the salon. They should know how best the supplied materials used to enhance quality work; this done through elaborating on the use and application procedures and cautions when using the products. All these people play very important functioning in the reduction of hazards as a way of enhancing the safety and health of both the salon and the staff. Procedures involved in reporting, maintaining and controlling hazards. The availability of emergency exits and fire extinguishers (Peter, 2003, p. 24) should be a matter of concern, emergency directives and signs placed at conspicuous places seen by everybody including the visitors. However, for effective control of the risks, the staff must take the initiative to discover and either gets rid of the risks through all the appropriate ways. Which is the legal duty of the employers under the safety and health act 1974, to enhance health and safety of all the people with whom they arte responsible for. Other than that, the employees also have to take care of themselves and the others who, may fall victims of incidents that may arise due to the working practice, through the fulfilment of the health and safety requirements, they should support the obligations of their employer. Apart form the support, all the people in t he salon setup should distinguish the sources of emergency and incidents in the salon and be aware of the contacts of the emergency response services. The emergency numbers should be within the rich of everybody including the clients to enhance quick response to accident or incident. All the electrical equipments should have operational and safety manuals and every staff member in the salon should have an idea on how to control and or use the machines to reduce chances of accident that may arise due to ignorance (Henderson, 2004, p. 37). The staff should have some Emergency First Aid knowledge to help the victims of incidents for example when the dangerous chemicals are wrongly used; the first aid helps to reduce the health hazards as the efforts to get the emergencies. In order to achieve much, all the workers should know how to use, handle, store and dispose of equipment, tools and products respectively in accordance to the manufactures / salon policies and the local by-laws. Employees and client emergency and evacuation procedures involved in a robbery or accident cases. According to (Leah, 2005), rrobbery and accident are closely related to each other being that they all deal with loss of property, injury and or loss of life in a salon; there should be somebody responsible for the whole group in matters of accident and first aid. However, knowing the types of accidents and the corresponding evacuation procedures, first aid that differs with respect to the incident, the availability of an assembly point which will assist in identifying the victims and getting to know the cause and control procedures to undertake. For example, the different types of fire extinguishers and the area of use. Having the right tool but for the wrong purpose increases the effects of the damage. Staff induction on health and safety regarding both the staff and clients Do the induction for every staff member during the recruitment in the salon to reduce interruptions during normal working hours. However, there may be need to intensify the training due to the frequent change in technology that entails more advanced procedures and techniques of job handling in a salon environment. There will be an order of carrying out the induction in a detailed manner accompanied by a questionnaire should be filled after induction to confirm how best the information is understood. The induction is done in all sectors within the salon with respect to the salon security, personal health and safety and the other person’s and the salon (Peter, 2003, p. 53). Staff consultation on health and safety, and how the results conveyed to staff members There is a proposal for a series of consultative meetings with the employees for information exchange on heath and safety risks and hazards in the salon. This progress will affect the workplace hazards in a salon. The employees are a key factor in the risk reduction being that they are directly concerned with the sources of safety threats in the salon. At times, it is better to elect a health and safety overseer who will in turn report the incidents reported per day in the records book and later update the employer on the occurrences. Establish and maintain a safe working environment. In order to have a safe working environment, rules and regulations be formulated and followed to the dot regardless of the job position that an individual holds within the salon. According to (Henderson, 2004, p. 37), each employee should have a designated working position, fully responsible for all the issues, which includes hygiene, safety, repair and maintenance just to mention. However, when each employee works in accordance with the rules, they will be able to identify the problems prior and recommend ways or eliminating the problem in future. The main cause of most accidents is poor equipment care and handling by different employees in the salon who do not care bearing in mind that they can do other jobs in the salon with or without the equipment. Staff training Salon occupation and safety training program and the implementation procedure There will be a monthly staff health and safety training, which are conducted through training handouts to be well understood by the staff, followed by a series of set questions. The next day, the staff should answer at their own time after handing over the handouts to know the level of understanding of the safety regulations within the salon setup. To achieve maximum from the training, there are awards and promotions for the top performers during the training tentatively achieving the training goal. The main content of training regarding safety and health with is on personal protective equipment for personal safety, the posture hair tests, the workplace behaviour, general house keeping and following the manufacturers’ manual while dealing with the substances, tools and equipment within the salon environment as per (Peter, 2003, p. 213). Establishment and proper record system A proper accident/incident record is to put in place and all the staff should be aware not only to record the occurrence to indicate the details of the episode, cause and the effects on the general welfare of the salon so that the same mistake not to repeat any other time. In addition, the appointed health and safety manager can use the same information during trainings to explain the risks that can arise due to factors that can be controlled or avoided. Through the accident records in the report system, the health and safety training team would be able to strategize on the systematic ways of improving the accidents in the workplace (salon). The improvement forms used to record the number of accidents per week the total per month to help in monitoring the improvement in health and safety. Conclusion In the safety of the salon, it is the mandate of the workers and the employer to enhance health and safety through proper management and training to create safety awareness in the salon set-up. . References Dennis. N. (2000). Safety and Health in the Salon: Facilitator’s Beauty shops/ Environmental aspects. London: Cambridge University Press. Henderson. S. (2004). 3rd Edi. Advanced Hairdressing: Hairdressing Health & Fitness / Beauty & Grooming. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Janet. S. (2004). A practical guide to beauty therapy tutor support pack for NVQ level. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers. Leah. P. (2005). S/NVQ Level 2 Hairdressing. Sydney: Cengage Learning    Peter G. (2003). Basic reference and information. London: Prentice Hall Publishers. Peter G. (2003). How to Create the Perfect Eyebrow. New York: Financial Publishers. Read More