The PDA helps pharmacists to deal with risks to their health and safety in the workplace. This can be reactively if an incident has already occurred or where a member or group of members are facing an employer that refuses to take appropriate preventative steps. The PDA also acts proactively by ensuring health and safety at work is given the due priority it requires.
PDA members can access training to give them the knowledge and skills to become PDA Health and Safety Representatives who work to ensure workplaces are as safe as possible and that the risks from any hazards are minimised. This can apply to physical surroundings and to the pressures at work which can affect mental health and wellbeing.
A PDA Health and Safety Representative at an employer that has recognised the PDA Union has the legal right to inspect the workplaces where PDA members work. An inspection may take place after a serious incident has occurred, at the request of a member, or as part of a regular inspection calendar. They also have the legal right to request and review documents that are relevant to any inspection.
One health and safety issue that has been raised by some members is protection from infection in community pharmacy and a concern that adequate PPE may not always made readily available. This has been particularly highlighted again recently with continuing concern about Covid-19 and with the launch of the Pharmacy First Service in England.
In a recent exchange of correspondence with the PDA, David Webb, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer confirmed that for locums and employed pharmacists, “pharmacy contractors are responsible for the health and safety of staff providing pharmaceutical services”, and that NHS England’s advice is that, “pharmacy contractors review national guidance on infection prevention and control available here.”
This concern of some pharmacists about seeing patients with shingles, when the staff member themselves may be pregnant, was explicitly addressed by the PDA with the Chief Pharmacist who confirmed that, “Pharmacy contractors should cover this as part of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and risk assessments. Under health and safety legislation, employers have a legal duty to ensure suitable and sufficient risk assessments are carried out and adequate control measures are put in place to reduce the risk of harm to staff and patients, so far as is reasonably practicable.
NICE CKS guidelines recommend that pregnant individuals should avoid contact with people with shingles.”
Pharmacists concerned with any health and safety issue at their workplace should highlight it through the relevant company procedures and contact their local PDA Rep. PDA members can also contact the PDA’s Member Support Centre if the pharmacy contractor is not taking the necessary steps to protect their health and safety at work.
Get involved
Learn more
- National infection prevention and control
- Pharmacy First Service
- NICE CKS guidelines
- PDA signs the Covid-19 Safety Pledge
- PDA supports calls for complete transparency in Covid-19 Public Inquiry
- World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2023
- Health, Safety and Welfare training
- DHSC consultation on extending free PPE to the health and care sector after 31 March 2022
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.