I work in occupational health
Key issues
All Occupational Health staff should be aware that:
Reactions to Natural Rubber Latex (NRL) affect all areas of the healthcare
sector, including the Occupational Health environment, because Occupational
Health staff:
- Have an increased risk of developing NRL allergy through the repeated
use of NRL gloves.
- They may need to advise sensitised staff
They also have:
- A statutory responsibility to reduce the risk of sensitisation in themselves,
their colleagues and clients.
It is therefore essential that Occupational Health staff are aware and
familiar with:
- Their organisation's Policy / or the organisation
that they are contracted to) on action to protect staff who are allergic
to NRL
- Their organisation's / or the organisation that they are contracted
to purchasing programme which only supports powder-free/low-protein NRL
glove use and wherever possible NRL-free equipment and product purchasing.
- An organisational NRL-free resuscitation policy. ALL products must be NRL-free, as
it makes no sense to use NRL when it may have been the cause of anaphylaxis.
- Occupational Health pre-screening questionnaires.
- A regularly up-dated database of generic and specialty specific products
which do and do not contain NRL which will be specific to department due
to range of possible products used
- The need to minimise the purchase of NRL-containing products and check
with manufacturers ~ possibly labelled
- The Occupational Health / Health and Safety reporting mechanism for
effective diagnostics of employed staff / or staff in post
- What glove materials for use by
sensitised OH staff and for sensitised clients are available [37kb]
- An education programme to inform
new and existing staff [85kb]
- Where to find posters for information,
clearly displayed and on file. [44kb]
Occupational Health staff will be required to:
- Undertake pre-employment screening of all prospective employees working
in the clinical environment - this could be as simple as adding a question
on the Pre-Employment Health Questionnaire.
- Provide advice to all prospective employees and their managers regarding
NRL-safe environments.
- Provide advice to all employees with regard to NRL protein and chemical
sensitisations.
- Undertake a risk assessment to determine whether an NRL-safe environment
within OH clinical rooms should be the 'norm' to prevent / reduce
the incidence of exposure to NRL, to both OH personnel and clients.
- Undertake a risk-assessment to determine whether a NRL-free gloves should
be used in a client testing / diagnostic situation, where the member of
staff is, as yet, undiagnosed.
- Use a screening questionnaire
for identifying NRL Sensitivity, to assist in determining whether further
diagnostics/testing are required.
- Once a positive diagnosis of NRL allergy has been made, to undertake
a risk assessment within clients workplace,
in conjunction with the manager, to ensure a safe working environment
for sensitised individuals
