There are a number of contractual, legislative and regulatory obligations that influence the way services operate.

These means we will:

• have regular fire drills and evacuations, and an evacuation plan on the wall
• have smoke alarms and, if necessary, sprinklers
• follow requirements about medication, including recording systems, support and storage
• follow the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights
• follow service standards
• have visits from auditors who talk to staff, people we support and their families

We have a duty of care that means:

• we have to balance the risks to an individual of any decision they might want to make – for example, we might need to take someone to the doctor when they say they don’t want to go
• we can’t always seek permission to do things if we need to act quickly
• we might have to stop someone doing something we think is too risky
• we support someone to make a choice by managing risk, for example, if they want to take the bus to work we can support them by teaching them how to do this, rather than just letting them set off on their own
• we will follow systems, policies and procedures that have been developed to ensure people using services are safe.
• we will take all reasonable steps to keep everyone safe.

IDEA Services is committed to providing a healthy and safe environment by complying with the Health and Safety in Employment Act and other relevant codes of practice.