9. Promoting Safety and Positive Risk Taking
Empowering the person to decide the level of risk they are prepared to take with their health and safety. This includes working with the tension between promoting safety and positive risk taking, including assessing and dealing with possible risks for service users, carers, family members, and the wider public.
‘This capability focuses on the issues of risk to the individual and society and how this can best be addressed in a manner that values all those concerned.’
(Department of Health 2004)
What this means is: Working with someone in a positive way to decide how much risk they are prepared to take with their health and safety. Making sure that there is safety has to be balanced against letting them take risks that might improve their life. This capability involves assessing and dealing with possible risks to service users, carers, family members and the general public.