I have to agree that an employer owes a duty of care if their staff are
working overseas and that applies to necessary vaccines and protective
equipment. Students however are not employees, have a choice about where
they go and therefore do fall under the same rules
Greg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: "business" travel
> Surely if staff are having to travel abroad as part of their work then
> travel vaccinations would become part of their occupational health and
would
> be necessary to provide them with a safe working environment and meet the
> employers duty of care. Similarly, if students have to travel as part of
> their course and the medical centre is providing them with medical
services
> for the duration of their course then it could be argued that there was a
> requirement to vaccinate them also. Of course as students are now
> increasingly having to pay for their tuition you could also probably argue
> that they should pay for their travel vaccs as well.
>
> When I worked for DERA, albeit as a contractor, we did provide necessary
> travel packs for those travelling abroad which included emergency medical
> kits - insect repellent, syringes and the like, if required.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jeremy R F Smith
> RGN AIIRSM BSc Hons (OHN)
> Occupational Health Advisor - Dover Harbour Board
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kate Venables
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 14 June 2001 17:20
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: "business" travel
>
>
> Dear List - the policy in the Oxford University OHS is to provide - and
fund
> from central "corporate" funds - the immunisations and anti-malarials
> necessary for strictly "business" travel for staff eg fieldwork abroad,
> visits to out-stations abroad, travel to collaborators or conferences. We
> do not provide or fund these health protection measures for recreational
> travel or for spouses, partners, or children. And we do not provide other
> medical services - people have to go to their GPs for prescriptions for
> regular medication. We do not extend this service to students except
> medical student electives.
>
> Increasingly, however, we get enquiries from students - or teaching staff
in
> charge of students - who believe they meet these guidelines - eg groups of
> undergraduates going abroad for part of their course (eg language students
> or geography students) or students travelling abroad in vacations for
> broadly educational purposes. Logically, they have a point. If a
> university funds and/or provides immunisation against, say, hep B in lab
> work should it not provide a similar service for infection hazards
abroad -
> and should it not provide a comparable service to staff and students?
>
> And an alternative view. What do people think about the logic of an
> employer funding immunisations for travel at all? There is a duty of care
> if an employer expects its staff to travel abroad on business. But
> employers don't fund other expenditure such as stout boots, or bednets, or
> sunglasses, or sun-screens, or tropical clothing, or water purification
> tablets. So is it logical to fund immunisations?
>
> Comments and experiences greatly appreciated - Kate
>
>
> Dr Katherine M Venables MD FRCP FFOM MFPHM
> University Lecturer in Occupational Medicine
> Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oxford
> Old Road, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK
> Telephone (direct) (+)1865 227034, (secretary) (+)1865 282677
>
>
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