Hi Claire
I had a similar situation in a mail processing plant a few years ago.
The workplace is not normally considered a high risk place for TB
transmission - it needs close and prolonged contact. The TB public
health team will contact any contacts they consider to be at risk and
that is usually family members (who live with the infected person) and
carers.
The TB team advised us to play it down, i.e. not issue any leaflets etc
as there was such a low risk that is was considered negligible and they
didn't want us to cause unnecessary panic. You do also have to be
careful that the infected person's privacy isn't compromised.
The local TB team or the HPA will be able to advise you further.
Car
-----Original Message-----
From: Claire Lambert [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 18 November 2005 10:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TB
Hi All,
Just after some advice on a case highlighted today. Due to production
demands, we use alot of agency workers. After some investigations one
agency worker has been diagnosed with pulmonary TB and admitted to
hopspital. The worker's siblings (who reside at the same address), also
working through the agency, have been referred back to the agency and
have
left the site. Management are asking me what we should do now for the
remaining workforce who have been working alongside the individual for
some weeks while they have been unwell. There is some concern among the
staff regarding how much risk they were at.
Given that there is somewhere in the region of 230-250 employees working
in that area of production at any one time, and agency workers in
particular rotate round to different areas, it would be difficult to
isolate those that worked most closely with them. Also due to the
nature
of toilet and meal breaks the individual may have come into contact with
many, many more staff.
Is there anything I should advise management about, especially
considering
it is a food production environment?
Regards,
Claire Lambert
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