Legal information on bloodborne viruses

This page summarises the main health and safety laws that apply to work with bloodborne viruses (BBVs).

It includes information on legal requirements for:

health surveillance
incident reporting

The Health and Safety at Work Act places a duty on employers to:

provide a safe place of work
protect the health and safety of both their employees and anyone who may be affected by their work activities

Employees also have a duty to co-operate with their employer in meeting these duties.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations set out the responsibilities of employers in all general aspects of health and safety management.

The main legislation relevant to controlling the workplace risks of exposure to BBVs is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH).

However, employers also have health and safety responsibilities under other regulations that overlap with COSHH:

Health surveillance and records

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, employers must provide health surveillance when the need for it has been identified through a risk assessment. There is more guidance on health surveillance and occupational health.

Employers must also keep health records relating to work involving risk of exposure to BBVs under COSHH regulation 11(3).

The COSHH Approved Code of Practice describes how to provide health surveillance for exposure to biological agents:

employers should provide workers with information about the sorts of infections relevant to their work and symptoms that can occur. They should train workers to exercise personal vigilance and seek swift medical attention if they develop early signs of infection. Employers who identify bloodborne viruses as a workplace hazard must consider this requirement and how to implement it
if the risk assessment identifies a risk of exposure to biological agents for which effective vaccines are readily available, a pre-exposure screening programme and appropriate follow-up assessments should show if employees are immune to the relevant agent. The screening records should include the dates of the employee’s vaccinations and when any boosters or follow-up screenings are due. This should be considered in the context of available vaccination for hepatitis B

If intentional work with BBVs is carried out (for example in laboratories), additional requirements are in place which are described in our infections at work guidance pages.

Incident reporting

Under RIDDOR Regulations, infections and dangerous occurrences with biological agents at work must be reported.

Guidance on who should report, what they should report and how to report can be found on our how to report under RIDDOR guidance page.

Dangerous occurrences are certain unintended, specified events, which may not result in a reportable injury or infection, but have the potential to cause significant harm.

You must report any accident or incident which results, or could have resulted, in the release or escape of a biological agent likely to cause severe human infection or illness.

A severe human infection or illness is one caused by biological agents in hazard groups 3 and 4 as defined in Schedule 3 of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH).

The BBVs, HIV, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus are hazard group 3 agents. You can find more details of categorisation in the approved list of biological agents.

You must also report:

any needlestick or sharps injury involving known blood or body fluid infected with a BBV
any other incident where employee exposure to an infectious BBV has occurred in a manner that means it could potentially be transmitted

Local records should also be kept of all such incidents, and the immediate and underlying causes should be investigated and findings recorded.

RIDDOR reportable BBV-related exposures

Some occupational exposures to BBVs (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV), are reportable to HSE under RIDDOR as follows:

Regulation 7 (dangerous occurrence) – any accident or incident which results or could have resulted in the release or escape of a biological agent likely to cause severe human infection or illness
Regulation 4(2) – if exposure to the BBV resulted in the worker being off work for 7 or more consecutive days, and/or
Regulation 9(b) disease – if exposure to the BBV resulted in the worker acquiring an infection as the result of an occupational exposure to a biological agent