Hepatitis B (also known as hep B) is a liver infection that is spread through body fluids such as blood. It can cause both acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) disease. Chronic hepatitis B can increase your risk of death from both cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The World Health Organisation estimates there are around 1.2 million new hep B infections every year worldwide. Due to the NHS vaccination schedule, there is a relatively low chance of getting it for the general population of the UK. However, as it has a higher prevalence in other parts of the world, a hep B vaccine is recommended for people in high-risk occupations or visiting higher-risk areas.
According to the UK government’s ‘Green Book Guidance’ the following people are considered to be at increased risk for Hep B due to their occupation and should be vaccinated:
Healthcare workers (which includes students and trainees) who may have direct contact with blood, blood-stained body fluids or body tissues, and needles or other sharp instruments that may have blood on them.
Any laboratory staff who handle material that might contain the hepatitis B virus should be immunised, as should anyone who may be at risk of being bitten by a person with Hep B too.
The best way to know whether your staff need to be offered hepatitis B vaccinations is to make a complete and comprehensive risk assessment of their role. If it is deemed likely they could be exposed to hepatitis B then it is your responsibility to supply an immunisation programme.
Vaccinating your staff against hepatitis B will have a wide range of benefits, some immediate and some long-term.
Reduces the risk of infection when there is a regular risk of exposure to blood and bodily fluids through cuts, splashes and needle-stick injuries. Research shows that 90% of adults have a strong level of protection against Hep B after completing a full course of vaccines.
The risk of exposure to bloodborne illnesses falls under COSHH regulations by The Health and Safety Executive. This means if your employers are at ongoing risk of exposure, you are legally required to offer vaccinations against the hepatitis B virus. A workplace vaccination programme can be the easier way to do it.
As an employer, you also have an ethical responsibility to protect your employees from workplace hazards such as hepatitis B.
Hepatitis B can lead to a serious or lifelong illness such as chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Protecting workers from infection helps prevent these serious long-term health issue from occurring as well as a severe acute infection.
On both a personal and a company scale, the cost of a vaccination programme is usually lower than the cost of your staff being exposed to Hepatitis B.
Of course, the cost of treatment is more expensive than vaccines – long-term medical care can be necessary which is far more costly.
However, it also saves you in staffing costs. By preventing your employees from getting Hepatitis B you stop them from needing time off to recover – either short or long-term. This means you don’t need to pay out sick pay, or for cover if your team is widely affected. Even when staff return after being ill, the recovery period can continue to affect productivity. Preventing transmission in the first place removes all of these costs.
Instances of hepatitis B in the general UK population are relatively low (around 0.1% to 0.5% of people), however numbers are slowly creeping up. Vaccinating any staff who are at higher risk of contracting Hep B is a vital way of keeping the general public safe too.
Hepatitis B vaccines are administered via an injection into the muscle. For adults and older children, this is done into the deltoid muscle of the upper arm for maximum efficacy.
To get full protection from hep B vaccines, they are given in a series of three doses. Our standard schedule is:
Another 6-8 weeks after the third dose we’ll run a blood test to check immunity levels. If they are low, we’ll administer another dose and re-run the test again in 6-8 weeks.
According to the NHS a full course of hepatitis vaccines could offer protection for as long as 20-30 years for some people. This means that a Hep B vaccination service doesn’t have to be run on an annual basis in the same way corporate flu vaccinations do).
High-risk employees should always be encouraged to complete a full vaccination schedule to protect them. If a new employee refuses you are able to withdraw an offer of employment, though this may not be grounds for firing a long-term employee.
UK government guidance states that anyone who has not been immunised against Hepatitis B should be restricted from performing EPPs unless proven not to be infectious.
Contracting hepatitis B can cause long-term health issues. No one should suffer from it unnecessarily. Here at David Barber, our occupational health team can help make sure all your staff are fully protected against this virus so if accidental exposure does happen, the impacts are limited.
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