A workplace flu epidemic

Consider what would happen if your workforce is suddenly reduced because workers are ill, afraid they might become ill, or are recovering from illness. The Centers for Disease Control recommends staying in a self-imposed quarantine until 24 hours after the fever has left without fever-reducing medications. Most people who contract the disease but are not hospitalized have a fever from two to four days.

What about the situation that could develop if your workers become ill but stick it out on the job? Your business could quickly become a breeding ground for the disease. Another way to foster growth of the virus is from your workers traveling to meetings and bringing H1N1 back with them. Restricting travel—especially to countries such as Mexico, India, Chile, Thailand, and Canada where high rates of flu-like diseases are being reported—is recommended as one effective way to help keep your workforce free from the disease.

Whatever your workers may be facing, the reality is that as a business owner your first obligation is to provide a safe place for them to work. You don’t want to encourage workers to stay on the job when they have flu symptoms because that could start up an epidemic at your business. Such an event could even set you up for a costly lawsuit.

Educate your employees about being safe during a flu epidemic. Plan ahead for projects or assignments that could be done at home. Above all, be sure the H1N1 virus is unwelcome at your place of business.

Copyright © 2009 by Griffith Publishing. The comments provided on these pages can be used by any business to promote health and safety in their workplace. The use of these materials for resale, consulting, or any commercial use is not allowed without specific, advance permission from Griffith Publishing.

Latex or vinyl—do we really need gloves at all?

Perhaps you’ve watched a fast-food worker, wearing latex gloves, making your sandwich and then been appalled to see that same worker, take your money, ring up your order, hand you your change and order, and start the whole process over again—never changing gloves.

The New York Times recently reported that 20 years after disposable gloves became common in the food service industry, it is not clear they have made any measurable difference in the transmission of illness. Yes, the gloves can prevent most of the millions of bacteria teeming on a worker’s hands from being transmitted to your food, but only if the gloves themselves are clean. Hence the problem!

One survey of thousands of American restaurant workers showed that more than a third said they didn’t always change their gloves between handling raw meat or poultry, and touching readyto-eat food.

Disposable gloves are also being reexamined, because it turns out that a lot of people are allergic to latex. Rhode Island, Arizona, and Oregon have banned latex gloves from restaurants because of customer complaints and workers’ compensation claims arising from latex allergies.
Some restaurants have therefore turned to vinyl gloves. But these are now shown to contain a chemical that is carcinogenic. As a result, Japan has already banned vinyl gloves from all its restaurants.

Latex gloves not effective? Vinyl gloves not safe?

We’re not talking about healthcare workers with their high risk of exposure to disease oganisms in bodily fluids, but when it comes to our food preparers, perhaps the time has come to institute a radical alternative. Let’s consider a return to abandoning gloves in favor of educating food workers in the use of plenty of hot, soapy water between tasks.

Idaho and the flu epidemic

Never before have Idaho businesses faced the very real possibility of a specific disease threatening their workforce.

In July of this year, the worst case scenario for the flu epidemic in the U.S. in 2009-10 was a picture of 90 million Americans infected with influenza and nearly two million deaths. The report was given by Dr. Jennifer Ashton, medical correspondent for CBS News, on “The Early Show.”

Most schools have been affected in the Treasure Valley, with some reporting 30 percent of students absent due to flu-like symptoms. In Idaho, fewer than a dozen deaths from H1N1 have been confirmed, and all of the victims had underlying conditions that contributed to their death. The number of affected Idaho residents by the H1N1 virus is expected to climb even as H1N1 vaccines are being provided to high-risk groups.

The virus known as “novel H1N1” is a new version of typical H1N1 influenza. (The “H” and “N” stand for the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins in the virus.) H1N1 is a subspecies of the Influenza A virus that has mutated into a variety of flu strains, probably including the Spanish flu virus that killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide from 1918 to 1919. The current virus may have originated as “swine flu” but is not spread by pigs but from person to person without any contact with swine or swine-related products.

At top priority to receive the vaccine are people at higher risk of health complications from H1N1 infection, and those more likely to transmit infection to the most vulnerable. They include the following:

• Pregnant women.
• Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months.
• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel.
• All people from 6 months through 24 years of age.
• People age 25 to 64 with health conditions indicating a greater risk of medical complications from influenza.

Business owners and supervisors are urged not to ignore worst-case scenario numbers but take the steps to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

submitted by Griffith Publishing