Are you a pharmacy manager?
In search of a health and safety risk assessment tailored to your activity?
Do you need a pre-filled assessment to save you hours of work?
Want to be in compliance with safety regulations?
 
Our Health and Safety Risk Assessment is designed to meet your needs with:
→ A professional risk assessment totally specific to pharmacies.
→ A professional risk assessment dedicated to pharmacists.
→ Risk prevention proposals dedicated to pharmacies.
→ The integration of risks linked to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
 
All this in an easily editable Excel format, allowing you to make personalized updates on your own.
 
FEATURES OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT 
 
This 5-page Excel file includes:
A Cover Page
A Company Information page
A presentation of the Risk Assessment Methodology used.
An occupational risks assessment tailored to your sector of activity.
A risk prevention schedule with all the different safety measures.

It contains 39 occupational risk situations classified into 9 work units:
Customer contact
Counter sales and advice
Pharmacy goodwill
Order reception
Medical procedures: vaccinations, tests, first aid, etc.
Cleaning the dispensary
Road travel
Working environment
Work premises
 
☑ Complies with the employer's obligation to assess risks
(Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999)
☑ Adheres to the General Principles of Prevention
(Schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999)
☑ Takes into account good practice and pitfalls in risk assessment
(Report RR151 from the Health and Safety Executive)
 
EXCERPTS FROM THE HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT 
 
The danger of prolonged static standing and trampling: Working at the pharmacy counter requires the pharmacist to remain in a prolonged static standing position. The entire time the pharmacist is at the counter advising customers, the lower body remains virtually motionless. The sale of medicines will enable pharmacists to move around the dispensary, but their movements will be over a short distance and will be assimilated to trampling, which reinforces the harmful effects of prolonged static standing posture. Prolonged static standing with trampling is a daily occurrence for pharmacy counter staff. If the pharmacy is experiencing a busy period, exposure to the risks will be greater, as the more customers there are waiting, the more difficult it is to take a break or organize a task rotation. Failure to work on workstation ergonomics (e.g. counter height, standing chairs) is an aggravating factor. Prolonged standing posture, reinforced by trampling, can lead to varicose veins (a feeling of heavy legs due to dilation of the vessels, sometimes with itching sensations), generalized muscular fatigue and foot pain. Back pain, and sometimes neck, shoulder, hip or knee pain, are also common. Over the long term, these postures can lead to osteoarticular problems.
 
The danger of emotional strain resulting from customer contact: The profession of dispensing pharmacist carries a certain psychological burden, stemming from the need to conceal one's feelings and day-to-day dealings with unpleasant or disparaging customers. Indeed, pharmacists as health professionals are often expected to be cheerful and pleasant in all circumstances, even though customers may themselves be unpleasant, rude or even uncivil (e.g. disrespectful of queues). These risks are particularly present when pharmacists are dealing with difficult customers, whether in terms of interpersonal relations (e.g. customers who say neither hello nor thank you) or demands (e.g. waiting times, criticism of partial reimbursement, criticism of generic drugs, etc.). These risks will be heightened if pharmacists are facing difficulties in their personal lives, and force themselves to put them aside in order to appear "professional" in front of customers. The main risks are damage to psychological health, such as stress, anxiety, loss of self-confidence, lifestyle problems (insomnia), eating disorders (e.g. comfort food, with health implications such as obesity) and increased risk of attraction and dependence on psychotropic substances offering comfort (medication, tobacco, drugs).
 
The danger of verbal and/or physical aggression: Pharmacists can be the target of aggression from certain customers. The reasons for such aggression are potentially numerous (e.g. unavailable medicines, waiting time deemed too long, etc.), but they are particularly heightened in pharmacies due to the presence of psychotropic / narcotic products on which some customers may be dependent, which tends to make them aggressive when they are deficient in them. In theory, physical assaults can occur at any time of the year. There is no particular period, and these situations will depend more on the customer and the context. [end of extract]
 
 
A GUARANTEE OF THE QUALITY OF OUR HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT 
_ We're registered as Professional Risk Prevention Consultants.
_ Our team comprises graduate safety engineers.
_ Our documents are routinely checked by safety inspectors.
_ We frequently update our Occupational Risk Assessments.
 
RESOURCES 
_ "Pharmacy" by Health and Safety Authority.