Employers must manage the potential health and safety risks in any workplace by carrying out a risk assessment.
Alongside this, and their duties under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH), they should take the following actions to decide if risk controls against bloodborne virus (BBVs) exposure are required.
Do not overcomplicate the process. In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply. Most employers should already know whether, and how, their employees could potentially be exposed to BBVs. However, you should still make checks to ensure reasonable precautions are in place to avoid exposure.
Identify the hazards
- Are there any sources of blood and, or body fluids in the workplace?
- Are there any activities being undertaken that may involve exposure to these blood and, or body fluids?
- Are the blood and, or body fluids a source of BBVs?
- If your activities involve the deliberate handling of BBVs in a laboratory environment or clinical samples please refer to our biosafety and microbiological containment guidance for further information on risk assessment
Decide who might be harmed and how
- Who may be involved in the activities posing risk? Think of employees including any vulnerable workers, contractors, visitors or members of the public
- How may they be affected if exposed to sources of BBVs?
- Are sharps deliberately used or could work activities involve the handling of contaminated sharps?
- What safe or unsafe work practices exist?
- Consult with your employees
Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions
Decide how likely is it that harm will result from exposure. Factors to take into account include:
- frequency and extent of potential exposure to BBVs
- characteristics of the BBVs, for example survival times or infectious dose
- existing ways of working, for example safe work practices, systems of work, hygiene protocols, personal protective equipment (PPE), standard operating procedures, that provide protection to employees
- in the healthcare sector, existing ways of working such as infection and universal control precautions to manage infection risks from patients (on NHS.UK)
- existing precautions to prevent exposure during the deliberate use or handling of sharps
- alternatives to using sharps or using safer sharps
- existing arrangements for the disposal of contaminated sharps or other possibly blood contaminated materials
- existing protocols for the segregation of sterile and used equipment, disposable equipment or decontamination protocols for equipment
- if applicable, arrangements in place following any exposure incident to a BBV
- availability of a vaccine, which in the context of BBVs, means whether hepatitis B vaccination is needed
Record your findings and implement relevant control measures
You should include:
- policy and procedures, for example sharps policy, safe systems of work, hygiene and decontamination controls
- communication of hazards and controls to employees and their understanding of the information
- training in safe work processes including handling and disposal of sharps, safe systems of work, responding to an exposure incident
- use of PPE
- vaccination and health surveillance if applicable
Regularly reassess identified risks and any control measures
- Review your risk assessment and update it if necessary
- Review and repeat any training, as necessary
- Review immunisation status
- Identify any significant changes, such as working practices or safer sharps
- Assess any new information