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Burns and Scalds Risk Assessment for Care Homes (Wales) Policy

Policy Statement

This policy describes the home’s approach to assessing and reducing the risks to residents of being burned or scalded because of contact with hot surfaces or hot water. The policy is in line with best practice guidance produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK body responsible for workplace health and safety, and Regulation 57: Health and Safety of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 and accompanying statutory guidance.

{{org_field_name}} recognises its duty of care to protect residents from being harmed or injured by environmental hazards, by making sure it complies with all health and safety requirements and the national care environmental standards by having radiator covers, pipe covering, non-heat-conductive surfaces, hot water signs, etc that reduce the risk of people being burned or scalded.

The home is also implementing HSE guidance on the importance of assessing vulnerable people who could be at risk from being burnt from contact with hot surfaces. Examples include people who, because of mobility difficulties, slow reactions or brain damage, cannot move away quickly from heat sources such as hot water pipes, radiators or other forms of space heating devices and could sustain serious burns.

The home therefore includes in its risk assessments, which it carries out as part of its care planning, the vulnerability of residents to exposure to hot surfaces and hot water scalding.

The home assesses in each case:

• the ability of the person to move about unaided or to be able to move away quickly from potential hazards
• any possible neurological impairment reducing the person’s sensitivity to hot temperatures
• the person’s intellectual and mental state, which could impair their abilities to recognise hot surface and hot water temperatures or result in their unwittingly exposing themselves to hot temperatures, eg a person with dementia might run a hot bath and get into it
• the risks from the person’s unsupervised access to hazards when moving about the premises or in their own rooms
• the person’s capacity to seek help if needed
• the presence of any physical barriers and hazards in their living space, which are also near to hot surfaces, such as bed rails and furniture that would prevent a person from moving away quickly enough from the hot surface
• the risks associated with the level of self-care carried out by the person, including when washing, showering and bathing
• the vulnerability to exposure at certain times of the day or night because of their patterns of behaviour and corresponding staff availability.

The results of the risk assessments determine whether there should be a risk management plan which are recorded on the individual’s care plan.

Training

All new staff will receive training in the home’s policy and in line with the Social Care Wales: All Wales Induction Framework for Health and Social Care.

Further and refresher training is provided to staff with specific responsibilities for regulating hot surface areas in the home.

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