Risk Assessment Form for Residential Care Home for Adults with Learning and Physical Disabilities

Questions for Assessing Risk in a Residential Care Home

Please answer the following three questions then go on and read the case study and complete the risk assessment form

Please answer the following questions

1. Service users sometimes exhibit aggressive behaviour. Explain some of the potential causes of this.

2. Care workers must manage aggressive behaviour. How can this be done?

3. When incidents of aggressive behaviour occur care workers must follow procedures and report events. What should happen in this process and what content should be in a report?

Please read the case study and fill in the risk assessment form

You are a support worker within a residential care home for adults who have learning and physical disabilities. The care home has 18 residents, and they all require different levels of support – some are quite independent, and others need support with most of their daily living.

The building is over 2 levels and has 18 stairs to climb to the second floor – the stairs are carpeted. There are 2 doors leading outside, one to the front which is the main entrance, and the back door leads to the garden. Both external doors are recorded as fire exits and should be clear of obstacles at all times. The external doors are often left unlocked to allow the residents some independence and to ensure they are able to go to and from the garden easily. The back entrance is the only entrance with a ramp for wheelchairs and this leads directly into the kitchen. The kitchen is quite tight for space due to there being a table in centre of the room for the residents to use when cooking or to sit at when having a snack. This makes it difficult for some of the residents with mobility issues and who use wheelchairs and walking frames to move around. The cleaner often leaves bags of rubbish at the top of the ramp while she is cleaning to save her from having to go back and forth to the bins.

Throughout the home, the flooring is all wooden except for the stairs to make it easier for the residents who use mobility aids to manoeuvre about. The hallway and sitting room both have a large rug to make it more homely and reduce the noise levels. In the sitting room, there is an open fire which has a guard around it for safety however, one of the residents likes to be able to see the open fire and often removes the guard. While moving the guard one day, he broke it, and it is now unable to stand alone.

The company handyman often comes to the home to carry out any required maintenance. He usually parks his van in the drive and enters via the back door as this is closest to the driveway. Although there is a sign in book at the front entrance, there is not one at the back which means he doesn’t sign in when he arrives.

Each room within the home has it’s own ensuite to ensure privacy for the residents and the staff try to allocate the upstairs rooms to the more independent residents, however, this depends on whether there are enough rooms available and sometimes residents who require more support need to be given an upstairs room. When this happens, the residents leave mobility aids at the top and bottom of the stairs so they are available for them and they do not need to carry them up and down the stairs.

The fire brigade carried out a fire safety check on the home 2 years ago and they insisted that all internal doors must be approved fire doors and the home must carry out regular safety checks in line with Health and Safety legislation. The doors have been changed however, some of the residents find them too heavy to open and therefore staff have wedged them open to allow them to move freely around the home during the day and evening. The home has the correct number of fire extinguishers as advised by the fire brigade and all policies and procedures are kept in a folder within the manager’s office.

Staff are expected to keep up to date by reading the policies and procedures but some of the new staff have not had time to do this since starting, they also haven’t received any formal training in health and safety, fire safety or moving and assisting.

Risk assessment form

Candidate name _____________

Setting: ____________