Health and safety at work in orthodontic practice

Health and safety is now of major importance in general and specialist dental practice. Risk assessment and management is essential to ensure that practices are healthy and safe for staff, patients and visitors. Practitioners are required to do all that is reasonably practicable to ensure this. At the same time there is also the need to keep practising costs at an economic level. To comply requires a sound working knowledge of the law and regulations. It also involves turning general policies into specific surgery procedures that prevent accidents and promote good practice. Six new sets of regulations on health, safety and welfare were introduced in 1993 in the UK that brings us into step with matching regulations throughout The European Community. The general requirements, the new regulations and their background are discussed in the first of a two part article. Many of the specific problems related to orthodontic practice are discussed in the second article. Many problems can be addressed inexpensively by modifying working practice but this will need to involve the whole dental team.