Employees exposed to a virus, bacteria or fungus can end up with an infectious disease. How can you protect them from this?

Whether employees grow pathogens in the lab or risk a tick bite during outdoor work, infection can usually be prevented. Implement hygiene measures, offer vaccinations and provide personal protective gear. These frequently asked questions and their answers provide useful guidelines.

A lack of good hygiene is one of the primary causes of infection. Ask your employees to wash their hands regularly with water and soap:

• Before eating
• After a visit to the toilet
• After coughing
• After coming into contact with contaminated or toxic substances

If such substances are common in your sector, make it mandatory to use disposable gloves.

Another ‘must’ is to disinfect contaminated materials in order to protect employees from disease.

Attention to the prevention of needlestick and cutting accidents is also an important factor to avoid possible infections.

Vaccination is one of the easiest and safest ways to prevent infectious diseases. That is why some vaccines are required for risk groups. As an employer, you must offer these vaccines and employees may not refuse them. If they do, the employer cannot keep them at work.

Many important vaccinations are (still) mandatory, but are strongly recommended. This article provides more detailed information on vaccines that are mandatory or important in your sector.

Providing personal protective equipment is the most direct way to prevent workplace accidents and infections. Lab technicians, for example, wear a dustcoat, safety glasses and gloves to avoid direct contact with harmful substances.

Tip: Offer risk groups sufficient protective gear in order to guarantee their safety, but do not take any unnecessarily severe precautionary measures. This can create distress in the workplace.