Zoonoses
Zoonoses are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. There are around 40 potential zoonoses in the UK and approximately 300,000 people are potentially exposed in a variety of occupations.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) adds to the litany of modern plagues, derived from animals, that rapidly spread around the globe. In recent years we have fretted over:
• vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) derived from BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) or “mad cow disease”, which led to 4.4 million cows being destroyed in the UK either side of the 1990’s. By 2018 a total of 231 cases of vCJD had been reported globally.
• SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) from an animal virus (possibly horseshoe bats) which spread to over 8,000 people worldwide in 2003 and killed almost 800.
• MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 (possibly originating from dromedary camels) and affecting 2,000 people, with a 36% mortality rate.
Much further from the headlines however are seemingly more mundane infectious diseases derived from everyday work.
All sorts of occupations expose employees (not forgetting visitors, too) to zoonoses:
• Animal workers – farmers, vets, zookeepers,
• Healthcare staff,
• Waste handlers,
• Utilities workers – water, telecoms, railways, construction.
The great outdoors does not always provide the healthy environment one might expect, full of sunshine and fresh air. The sunshine can, of course, contain harmful levels of ultraviolet light, and the fresh air can carry infectious pathogens from:
• Zoonoses like anthrax, bird flu, bovine TB, campylobacteria, cryptosporidiosis, E.Coli, salmonella, streptococcus
• Leptospirosis such as Weil’s disease from rat urine and Hardjo from infected cattle.
• Psittacosis from birds/feathers.
• West Nile virus from infected mosquitoes.
Whilst you may be accustomed with the COSHH Regulations applying to chemical substances, the regulations also apply to micro-organisms. The five steps recommended by the Health & Safety Executive are:
• assess the risks to health from work activities which involve a hazardous substance (e.g. a micro-organism);
• prevent or, where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately control exposure to the hazardous substances;
• introduce and maintain control measures;
• inform, instruct and train employees about the risks and precautions to be taken;
• regularly review risk assessments and the effectiveness of control measures.
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
If you are worried about novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Arinite has just published a for clients advising, as ever, practical precautions to take.
Further Information
• Health & Safety Executive: Zoonoses
• Health & Safety Executive: The regulation of specified animal pathogens
• Health & Safety Executive: Infections at work
• Gov.UK: Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest information and advice
• IOSH: Coronavirus seven ways to protect travelling employees
• NHS Overview: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Contact us
Arinite clients appreciate we provide practical, no-nonsense advice about what you need to do to establish and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. Our team of health and safety consultants take pride in keeping health and safety simple.
If you need to call upon our expert assistance, or just for an informal chat, please call our office 0207 947 9581, or type an enquiry on our contact page.
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