BIOLOGICAL HEALTH HAZARDS AND RISK CONTROL

Biological hazards are organic substances or microorganisms that pose a

threat to the health of humans and other living organisms. They also include
toxins that are produced by organisms. They relate mainly to illness resulting
from exposure to bacteria, viruses and fungi. They also pose risks for many
workers in a variety of ways. People who work in medical care are at risk from
all types of infection found in society.

Forms of Biological Agents

Fungi – molds, yeast and mushrooms. Most are harmless to humans but
some can cause disease such as fungal infections like athlete’s
foot and farmer’s lung due to an allergic irritation caused by
inhaling mold spores

Bacteria – single-cell organisms that are found in vast numbers in and on

the human body. Some are harmless, some are beneficial like a
certain gut bacteria and some cause disease like leptospirosis

Viruses – very small infectious organisms that reproduce by hijacking

living cells to manufacture more viruses. Many viruses cause
disease like hepatitis

Prions – abnormal, transmissible agents able to induce abnormal folding

of normal cellular prion protien in the brain, leading to brain
damage

Routes of Entry
Inhalation – breathed in through the nose and mouth and down into the
lungs
Ingestion – taken through the mouth and swallowed down into the
stomach
Absorption through skin – passes through the skin and into the tissues
beneath and then into the bloodstream
Injection through the skin – passes through the skin barrier either by
physical injection or through damaged skin
Vaccination
 Worker consent must be obtained
 Vaccination does not always grant immunity
 Vaccination can give workers a false sense of security

Other Agents
Blood-borne Viruses (BBVs) – transferred from one person to another
by transfer of blood and other body fluids
 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – the causative agent of
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
 Hepatitis
* Hepatitis A – contracted orally by cross-contamination with
faecal material containing the Hepatitis A virus, so sewage
workers are at risk
* Hepatitis B – transmitted in body fluids, such as blood, so
occupations at risk would include health care workers, fire-
fighters, police and waste disposal workers

Typical control of BBVs

- Use of PPE when handling potentially contaminated materials
- Correct disposal of potentially contaminated materials such as
clinical waste
- Prevention of needle-stick injuries by correct disposal of sharps
in a sharps bin
- Decontamination and disinfection procedures
- Vaccination where appropriate
- Procedures to deal with accidental exposures

Legionella Bacteria – water-loving soil bacteria which causes

Legionnaire’s disease or Legionellosis. This can occur when water systems in a
workplace become contaminated with bacteria and that contaminated water is
then sprayed to create a mist with living bacteria inside the droplets

Symptoms
- Flu-like fever, headache, muscle pain and then progress to
pneumonia

Controls
- Appointment of a “responsible person” to carry out risk
assessment, manage and implement the controls
 - Avoid water temperatures between 200C and 450C and
conditions that favor bacteria growth
- Avoid water stagnation which can encourage biofilm growth
- Avoid using material that can harbor bacteria and provide
them with nutrients
- Control the release of water spray
- Keep water, storage systems and equipment clean

Leptospira Bacteria – commonly infect animals such as rats, mice, cattle

and horses. Infected rats pass the bacteria in their urine, perhaps onto wet
surfaces or into water where the bacteria can stay alive. If contaminated water
comes into contact with cuts or grazes, or is ingested, then infection may
occur.

Symptoms
- Flu-like symptoms like fever, headache, and muscle pain and
then progress to a more serious phase involving jaundice
leading to liver damage known as Weil’s disease

Controls
- Preventing rat infestation by good housekeeping and pest
control
- Good personal hygiene like hand-washing
- Covering cuts and grazes
- Use of PPE

Zoonotic Disease (or Zoonoses) – a disease which can be passed from

animals to humans like rabies

1.) Outline control measures that could be used to reduce the risk of
infection from biological organisms.
 SAFETY CULTURE
Promoting health and safety culture is the way that all the people within
the organization think and feel about health and safety and how this translates
into behavior. It can be defined as the shared attitudes, values, beliefs and
behaviors relating to health and safety. It is the result of the shared attitudes,
beliefs, competencies, perceptions and patterns of behavior in the
organization. There is a strong link between safety culture and health and
safety performance. Organizations with a strong, positive culture tend to have
good performance, whereas those with a negative culture perform poorly.

Factors which could result in the deterioration of health and safety

culture in an organization include
- Lack of leadership
- Presence of a blame culture
- Lack of commitment to safety
- Health and safety receiving lower priority than other issues
- Organizational changes (frequent or poorly communicated
change can result in uncertainty)
- Lack of resources
- Lack of consultation
- Interpersonal issues
- Poor systems and procedures
- External influences

In a positive culture, the majority of the workers think and feel that
health and safety is important. There is a clear policy. Everyone works safely
because they want to. That is the way that things are done in their
organization and that is how everybody else behaves too.

People who do not share this view are in the minority and are likely to
come round to the group way of thinking and acting. This is because the
culture of an organization tends to be absorbed by its workers over time.
Workers who do not adjust to the group way of thinking may either leave,
because they don’t feel that they fit in, or possibly be dismissed for working
unsafely.

In an organization like this you can see that there is clear link between
safety culture and health and safety performance. People work safely, so there
will be fewer ill health. It is also easy to see why organizations strive to create a
strong, positive safety culture because when there is one, it has a direct
influence on one’s behavior.

It makes sense to try to assess organization’s safety culture to see

whether it is strong and positive, or if there is room for improvement. Safety
culture is partly defined as how people think and feel, their attitudes, their
beliefs and their priorities.

Of critical importance to health and safety management is individual

worker behavior. One worker may behave in an ideal manner, but another may
not and this unsafe behavior may endanger themselves and others.

Three significant factors influence a worker’s behavior.

- The individual – their personal characteristics
- The job – the task that they are carrying out
- The organization – characteristics of the organization that they
are working for

Key characteristics of an individual worker’s personality that influence

their safety-related behavior include:
- Attitude –It is a person’s point of view or way of looking at
something and how they think and feel about a particular
safety issue.
- Competence – a combination of knowledge, ability, training
and experience that brings a person to a level where they are
able to perform to an acceptable standard and they are aware
of their own limitations.
- Motivation – the incentives at work

1.) Outline ways in which the health and safety culture might be improved.
2.) Is feedback essential for effective communication? Why?
 EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
An organization should develop emergency procedures to deal with
foreseeable incidents. Such incidents might include:
- Fire
- Bomb threat
- Chemical spill
- Outbreak of disease
- Severe weather or flooding
- Multiple casualty accident

These procedures should cover the internal arrangements for dealing

with the foreseeable incidents, which will include:
- Procedures to follow
- Provision of suitable equipment
- Nomination of responsible staff
- Provision of training and information
- Drills and exercises
- Contacting the emergency services

The foreseeable incidents will vary depending on many factors such as

the type of organization and its location.

Safety Protocols are issued during emergency. Some might feel violated
for crying out loud their rights. Rights are borne from the Constitution. Yet, if
National security is involved, certain rights can be suspended. It is well settled
rule that right is not absolute as right can be suspended.

1.) What is the main objective of emergency procedures? Explain.

 HOW DOES THE LAW WORK?
You don’t need to know the detail of every regulation, but you need to
understand a little more about how the law works in relation to health and
safety. A breach of health and safety legislation is usually a criminal offence –
wherever you are in the world.

Your role in influencing safety is that you are in the front line of safety.
Responsibility leads to accountability – you can delegate responsibility but you
can’t give away your accountability – you’re ultimately responsible. You are to
take reasonable care of your own safety and that of the other people who
might be affected by the things that you do and the things that they fail to do.
You are also expected to comply with safety instructions and procedures.

Criminal Law Case

Employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act of
1974 (HASAWA) to manage health and safety risks. This Act is known as a
statute. Statutes can be used in criminal and civil cases. Where the statutes
allow for criminal procedures, the type of law created is criminal, breaches of
which can be punished through imprisonment, fines and/or remedial orders.

This type of law is proactive – it’s designed to encourage prevention and

avoidance – and reactive – it provides punishment for lawbreakers.

In criminal law, the case against the accused must be proved by the
prosecution. So, in this case, the State or its representative has the ‘burden of
proof’. The level of proof required is ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.

Penalties for criminal offences can be imprisonment, fines, and/or

remedial orders. The severity of the penalty depends on the seriousness of the
crime.

In civil law, victims of harm or loss, caused by the fault or negligence of

another party, can seek compensation for that harm. This type of law is mainly
developed over time by the decisions made by judges – also known as
precedents. So, a decision taken by a judge in one particular case will apply to
all future similar cases. You can think of this type of law as “judge-made”. This
type of law is reactive – someone has to suffer harm or loss before a case can
be brought to court.
 In such cases, the responsibility is on the claimant (the injured party) to
demonstrate that the defendant has been negligent so that the judge is more
certain than not of the defendant’s negligence – this level of proof is usually
referred to as ‘the balance of probabilities’.

1.) Outline common duties of employees.