In health and social care there are a lot of procedures and precautions put into place so that accidents don’t occur, but no matter how careful organisations are with these kind of incidents there is no way really of preventing them. In health and social care a lot of risk assessments are taken to make sure the place is safe but obviously there is still a few things that are unstable or accidents like this wouldn’t occur. The staff’s duty then is to work out what happened and how to minimise the risk of it happening again. An emergency is often unexpected, not planned, dangerous and sometimes life threatening. Some incidents that can occur include: fires, floods, exposure to infection, and exposure to chemicals, intruders, aggressive and dangerous encounters and abuse.

Fire safety

Fire can be a very dangerous occurrence and is very unpredictable; this is why it may cause panic in the area. The first step in when a fire is happening is too close any doors leading to the fire if it is safe and then let everyone in the building know what is going on, this is simply done by raising the fire alarm for everyone to hear, and then for one person to ring emergency services. Although it may cause panic it must be done to start evacuating the building, but you must not leave the building because you are not to prioritise yourself better than service users, your duty of care is to look after the service users therefore you must help people who are less able than you for example, disabled, small children, restricted mobility, hearing/visual impairments and the elderly. Removing the service users from the care home or wherever you are could be a difficult task because many may be restricted from mobility. The first people to take out in the act of a fire is people that can walk and don’t have mobility issues, this is because they can usually help themselves and the faster they are evacuated the quicker staff can get back into the building and help the unabled get out of the building. Hopefully by the time firemen appear most if not all residents should be out of the building so that firemen can go straight away and put out the fire. Staff members should be doing head counts to make sure that everyone is out of the building. This is where it is very important for all staff to know if any staff or residents have went out for the day to go on a day trip or to see family. If staff do not know this they may risk theirs or a fireman’s life looking for someone that is not even in the building. Choking

Choking is caused by a foreign object that gets stuck in the throat and restricts airflow. Most often, choking is the result of someone getting food stuck in the windpipe, or commonly in children, it occurs when toys, coins, or other small objects become stuck in the throat or windpipe. Choking can also occur as a result of injury trauma, drinking alcohol, disease, or from swelling after a severe allergic reaction.

Choking means that a person is unable to breathe or speak because the throat or windpipe is completely obstructed. Without first aid, the lack of airflow can cause serious brain damage or even death by asphyxiation. If you think someone is choking, here's what to do.

Make sure the person is choking. It is important to be able to distinguish between partial and total airway obstruction. If a person is not truly choking, and has partial airway obstruction, you are better off letting him cough to remove the obstruction himself. Someone who is truly choking (total airway obstruction) will display one or more of the following signs: * The "choking sign" -- both hands clutched to the throat * Being unable to talk * The person cannot breathe effectively without difficulty, there will be no air movement * Cannot cough effectively * Noisy breathing * Changes in skin colour: blue lips and fingernails

Immediately call for help or for someone to call a paramedic then if the person is conscious, communicate your intent to perform first aid. This will also give him an opportunity to let you know if your assistance is welcomed.

Start following the steps to help the victim;
Administer up to 5 back blows using the heel of your hand- * Take the bottom part (heel) of your hand and deliver 5 separate forceful strikes between the person's shoulder blades. * Keep the back blows separate. Try to dislodge the object with each one. * Look for improvement after each one.
Perform 5 abdominal thrusts (Heimlich manoeuvre). * Get behind the victim. * Wrap your arms around his waist. Make sure you wrap your arms below the rib cage. * Take the underside of one fist and place it near the middle of the person's abdomen, with the thumb-side against the abdomen, just above the navel and below the breastbone. * Grasp that fist in your other hand. * Give separate and distinct, inward and upward thrusts. Continue until the obstruction is dislodged - check after each thrust. Stop if the victim becomes unconscious. * If the obstruction has not been relieved abdominal thrusts until the object becomes unstuck.
After the object has become unlodged from the victim, make sure that it is fully gone, after everything is done make sure that the victims breathing has returned to normal and that they are ok.