Preventive health care is the subject of the provisions set out in Chapter VI of the Act of 26 June 1974 of the Labour Code (Journal of Laws 2016, item 1666). The employer assesses and documents work-related risks and applies the necessary preventive measures to reduce the associated risks.
These measures include the prevention of occupational and other work-related diseases, including infectious diseases. Occupational diseases resulting from infectious biological agents include:
- infectious skin diseases (yeast dermatitis of the hands, dermatophytosis),
- diseases of the visual system (allergic or epidemic conjunctivitis or keratitis),
- infectious or parasitic diseases or their sequelae (Lyme disease, brucellosis, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis).
The risk assessment should identify the exposure of workers to biological agents that cause infectious diseases and the possible routes of transmission of pathogenic micro-organisms (airborne, via blood and body fluids, oral, direct contact). Based on the identified risks, the employer takes preventive measures. Prevention of infectious diseases includes the use of:
- personal protective equipment,
- repellents,
- human immunisation (against tetanus, tick-borne encephalitis, rabies),
- animal vaccination,
- disposable equipment,
- so-called safety equipment and tools,
- automation of work in laboratories and animal housing,
- safe air circulation in rooms with harmful biological agents,
- sterilisation of equipment and instruments,
- preventive and diagnostic (serological) testing of exposed workers,
- elimination of sick animals.