Health and safety
As an employer you must make sure your employees work in a safe environment. You should identify any risks or dangers your personal assistant may face when working for you and take precautions to prevent any harm to them. This is called a risk assessment. It is important to do a risk assessment because your employer’s liability insurance may not cover you if you have not taken precautions to make sure your personal assistant is safe.
Some of the things you should consider are:
- ensuring your home is safe, for example, making sure nothing is left lying around that could cause someone to trip over
- providing clear instructions on food hygiene and safely preparing meals
- providing clear instructions on safely using any equipment, for example, kettles or hoists etc.
- making sure your personal assistant is able to do the job and identifying any training that would make their job safer, for example
- providing gloves or other safety equipment for certain tasks
- providing clear instructions on minimising the spread of infection caused by contact with bodily fluids
- speaking to your personal assistant about any concerns they have and asking them to let you know if they see anything that may harm them.
You should record the risk assessment so you can share it with your personal assistant and have a record of what you have done. It is also a good idea to review it each year in case anything has changed.
You can find more information on risk assessments from the Health & Safety Executive website.