Care home employee handbook

Often a company begins with a few people that all work closely together, are on first name terms, know each other's spouses and family situations. Then as a company grows they take on additional staff and the close nit bond of friendship between the core staff doesn't always translate to every new person.

This is the most important time to have and use the residential care home employee handbook. 

Essentially it’s a document that mirrors your company health and safety policy. It’s there to get staff to agree to your T&Cs, your working conditions, your policies and practices.

Each employee signs to accept what your company stands for in terms of health and safety, equality and diversity, working in confined spaces, drug and alcohol policies etc…. The list is as long as your company health and safety policy.

The full table of contents for the residential care home employee handbook is listed towards the bottom of this page so that you can see all the areas covered. By getting your staff to sign and agree to this you are protecting yourself and your company.

The front page of our employee handbook contains the following text:

• Upon receipt of this handbook employees must familiarise themselves with its content and follow the guidelines set out to comply with Our safe working practices.
   
• If any part of this document is not clearly understood the reader should contact a manager or supervisor who will be able to clarify and offer further explanation.
   
• Once an employee has read and understood this handbook, they should complete and hand the acceptance form to a manager or supervisor.
   
• The acceptance form will remain in the relevant personnel file for the duration of employment.
   

The rear cover of the handbook contains the employee acceptance form which is listed below:

• Employee health and safety handbook
• Acceptance form
   
• By signing this acceptance form you are agreeing that you have familiarised yourself with the content of this employee health and safety handbook and agree to follow the guidelines set out to comply with Our safe working practices.
   
• Please date, sign and print name below and then hand this acceptance form to your supervisor or manager where it will be placed and remain in your personnel file for the duration of your employment.
   
• Date ____________________
   
• Print Name _______________
   
• Signature ________________
   

  The table of contents for the residential care home employee handbook is listed below and as you can see it is comprehensive and once an employee has signed the acceptance form they have agreed to your T&Cs. They have agreed to work in accordance with your H&S Policy, your Equal Opportunities Policy. Agreed to the employee's responsibilities as set out in section 2.02, the alcohol and drugs policy as set out in section 3.03 and much more.

  
  Without an employee handbook, any disciplinary action can be disputed and challenged because employment contracts don't list the specifics that are contained within this employee handbook.
  
  Every employer should give their staff an employee handbook to protect themselves and let their staff know what they expect. If you run a company and aren't issuing company handbooks, buy this one today. They're an essential part of employing people.
  
  As with all our documents this employee handbook is in Word™ format and is available for instant download.
  
   

  CONTENTS

   

  1 Policy Statements

  1.01  Health and safety policy statement
  1.02  Food safety policy statement
  1.03  Risk assessment policy statement
  1.04  Environmental policy statement
  1.05  Equal opportunities policy statement

   

  2 Organisation
  
  2.01 Safety management structure
  2.02 Employers responsibilities
  2.03 Employees responsibilities
  
  
  3 Employee information and safe working practices
  3.01     Accident reporting procedure
  3.02     Administration and recording of medicines
  3.03     Alcohol and drugs
  3.04     Bathing residents
  3.05     Bedrail entrapment
  3.06     Biohazards
  3.07     Clean and disinfect food areas
  3.08     COSHH (Control of substances hazardous to health)
  3.09     Cross contamination from food preparation
  3.10     Cross contamination from food storage
  3.11     Damaging knee (from kneeling)
  3.12     Desk work. Musculoskeletal injuries and posture fatigue
  3.13     Desk work. RSI (Repetitive strain injuries)
  3.14     Disciplinary rules
  3.15     DSE (Display screen equipment)
  3.16     Electricity
  3.17     Falls from heights (hop ups)
  3.18     Falls from heights (Kick step)
  3.19     Falls from heights (Step ladder)
  3.20     Fire/explosion
  3.21     First aid procedures
  3.22     Food safety and hand washing
  3.23     Food safety and personal hygiene
  3.24     General kitchen safety
  3.25     Hot foods and/or liquids
  3.26     Manual handling
  3.27     Noise for dementia patients
  3.28     Objects falls from height
  3.29     Office equipment
  3.30     Refuse and food waste
  3.31     RSI (Repetitive strain injuries)
  3.32     Safety signs
  3.33     Slip, trips and falls
  3.34     Struck by objects
  3.35     Training
  3.36     Vehicles
  3.37     Violence
  3.38     Welfare facilities