Care workers given safety guidance

Specialist training supplied by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is helping one of the region's biggest care providers keep elderly and vulnerable people safe from harm.

Employees at Stafford-based Care UK are the latest to benefit from workshops which highlight potential fire hazards in the home and the procedure for making referrals to the fire service.

Neil Griffiths, risk reduction officer for the service, delivers the training and says it could help to save lives. "The training provides employees with the skills they need to identify hazards in the home such as excess clutter, the position of furniture and discarded household waste," he said.

"Care UK is a national organisation which provides a large range of care to vulnerable people in their own homes.

"I hope once the training has been completed for the company's 60 members of staff at Stafford, we could wheel it out nationally."

Mr Griffiths described how visits to two homes in the region provided a stark warning of the dangers people do face.

"In one home the occupier was using an electric bar fire to cook on while in another, a rolled-up newspaper, which had been set alight, was being carried across the property in a toaster in order to light a gas fire," he said.

Care UK employee Andrew Larner, aged 33, said the training would prove invaluable in helping to keep people safe. "It is very important because we can use this training in our day-to-day jobs," he said.

"There are a lot of vulnerable people out there who are at risk and this training will help us to be in a better positiion to protect and educate them."

Susan Potter, 44, also from Care UK, said: "I deal with children a lot and this training has made me more aware of the issues and potential risks regarding access to and from buildings.

"Anything which helps to keep people safe and secure is a very good thing."