Work & Health Safety

Safe Work Environment

Duty of Care

Employers have a duty of care to provide a safe work environment to minimize risks to the health of employees, Clients and other persons entering the premises. This effort involves providing:

Adequate staff training, including training in hygiene and infection control
Properly maintained facilities and equipment, including personal protective equipment.
A suitably designed and clean workplace to minimize potential hazards such as the safe storage of equipment and chemicals, sharps and other clinical and related waste.
Keep all cleansers, removers, tints and primers from coming into contact with the eye. If this happens rinse the eye thoroughly with saline and recommend that your client consult a doctor.
Consider using gloves. The use of the sterile single-use gloves is encouraged when skin penetration procedures are being performed and the technician’s hands are likely to be contaminated with blood or body fluids/substances or come into contact with mucous membranes or non-intact skin.

Further information about duty of care and Work Health Safety is available from the following resources.

https://safeworkhelp.co.nz

www.worksafe.co.nz

Immunisation

No vaccine is available for the prevention of Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. There is however, a safe and effective vaccine for the prevention of Hepatitis B. Immunisation is recommended for all technicians involved in skin penetration procedures and for staff involved in cleaning instruments/equipment. A primary immunization course in Hepatitis B consists of three injections over six months. Immunisation can be arranged through a general practitioner or the local government.

General

Make sure that your working environment is neat and tidy at all times. Inspect it continuously throughout the day. Ensure there is:

No trip hazards such as power cords or rough edges – use non-slip mats and rugs.
A safe entry way and passage.
Minimal clutter.

Ensure all items are within reach, and remove items not required from the immediate area.

Ensure work surfaces including beauty bed, trolley etc are cleaned with warm water and detergent then rinsed and dried.

Have a step stool available for Client assistance on and off the beauty bed where required.

Use correct manual handling processes when lifting equipment or assisting clients on and off the beauty bed.

Use disposable supplies where possible and discard after each client and clean and disinfect the working area and tools.

Watches, wrist and finger jewellery, including wedding rings, should not be worn when attending to clients because these items provide a potential source of infection. Hand jewellery should not be worn during skin penetration procedures because it may tear the gloves.

Footwear should cover the whole foot, to protect against accidental injury from dropped items or equipment.

During Procedure

Work calmly and carefully. Communicate to your client beforehand how the treatment is performed so they do not move or fidget.

For stability when performing treatment over the client’s head where required, keep your hands in contact with the client’s forehead or temple but do not apply too much pressure as to make it uncomfortable.

Maintaining correct posture is essential. If you are sitting, sit with your back straight and invest in and adjustable saddle stool so you are not hunching over your client. If you are standing/leaning over your client, ensure you take a moment every few minutes to stand tall, straighten your back and relax your shoulders.

Sterile gloves should be worn when sterile equipment is being used. Wearing gloves must not replace hand washing because gloves may have defects that are not immediately obvious, or they may become damaged during use. Single use gloves should be carefully removed to avoid contamination of hands or other surfaces. They must not be washed or reused.

Single use gloves should be:

Removed when leaving the client for any reason, and/or
Removed if they become torn, and
Changed after each client, and
Disposed of in the contaminated waste receptacle, and
Used before the expiry date.

Some technicians and clients may have or develop an allergy or sensitivity to latex gloves. The reaction is likely to be due to contact with latex proteins that might not have been adequately removed during the manufacturing process. It is therefore recommended that the alternatives to latex, such as neoprene be used.

Cleaning up after a Procedure

After completing any procedure, carry out the following steps:

Place all reusable skin penetration instruments, or other reusable instruments contaminated with blood into a container labelled ‘dirty instruments for cleaning and sterilization’.
Place all reusable instruments from low and medium risk procedures into a container labelled ‘dirty instruments for cleaning’.
Place the containers in the area set aside for cleaning.
Do not store instruments in chemical disinfectant either before or after cleaning, sterilization or thermal disinfection.
Dispose of all used single use items (such as applicators, paper towelling, and protective coverings from surfaces) into the contaminated waste bin.
Place used linen into a washable leak-proof receptacle with a close-fitting lid labelled “dirty linen” and launder.
Remove and dispose of gloves in the contaminated waste bin, then wash hands and thoroughly pat dry.
Wear personal protective equipment while cleaning (such as an apron and heavy-duty gloves) and clean all equipment items before their next use.
Remove used items from the labelled containers and sort them according to the appropriate cleaning method.
Clean instruments and trays immediately after a procedure (if cleaning cannot be performed immediately, then instruments should be covered in warm water to prevent soils from becoming fixed, which would make cleaning difficult.
Do not leave instruments soaking for longer than one hour (instruments that cannot be immersed should be cleaned immediately)
Protect the tips of sharp reusable items from damage during cleaning and clean carefully to avoid a sharps injury.

Emergency Situations

It is essential for premises to have contact numbers for local and emergency services on hand. It is also strongly recommended that technicians, or in a workplace with multiple employees, at least one employee, completes a first aid course. The course should cover basic first aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the management of burns and eye injuries/hazards such as splashes.

Incident Reporting

If an accident or incident does occur, make sure you record on an Accident/Incident Form full details of what happened, when (date/time), how it happened, steps you took to address the situation and issue the correct aftercare/referral (medical) advice. Refer to your Insurer for the appropriate form/details to be recorded. Do not under any circumstances; attempt to make a diagnosis where you are not qualified to do so.

First Aid Kit

Your Work Health Safety Regulator can provide information on first aid kits. The contents of the kit will depend on factors such as the number of employees, the nature of any hazards and the location of the workplace.

In most workplaces, a basic first aid kit would include the following items.

Basic first aid notes
Sterile eye pads
Eye bath
Individually wrapped sterile adhesive dressings
Disposable gloves
Scissors
Triangular bandages
Sterile coverings for serious wounds
Normal saline
Adhesive tape
Crepe bandages
Safety pins
Different sized sterile, unmedicated wound dressings
Addresses and telephone numbers of emergency services
Names and contact details of workplace first aid officers