Posted By J Hollingsworth Hi all, Any advice rergarding HEP-B injection for First aiders within a factory enviroment ? Should we implement a programe where First aiders are screened? Where can I find any Guidance that I can present to the existing First aiders to show all areas have beem reviewed ? Regards John.

Posted By sagalout I was faced with a similar issue about 3 years ago. 95% of the first aid injuries being dealt with at this time were cuts and therefore free blood was present every time. I am not competent in this area and took advice from a competent medical person. None the less I thought it might give you a starting base line and is worth sharing in that context. The following is the key extract of the reply from that medical adviser (consultant level). “Hep A and D are associated with water and food and are irrelevant ot first aid. Hep B, C and E are the blood borne forms and as such present a risk to anyone who could be exposed. The risk of infection is very small, especially if standard first aid procedures and disciplines are followed. The chance of individual infection has been compared to the chance of winning the lottery jackpot 3 times in a row. Screening or testing is not relevant. There is currently only one vaccine and that is for Hep B. If employees wish to be vaccinated for their own peace of mind, the need for vaccination is occupational (first aider) and therefore the vaccine should be available through the NHS via their GP.” If there is someone out there with more up to date advice or better medical advice, I hope they respond for you. If not, I echo the advice in the previous post, take medical advice. Please do not rely solely upon this post. Pete

Posted By Kate Graham see p. 7 of http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg342.pdf

Posted By Diane Thomason I agree with John. From the HSE booklet: "It is not normally necessary for first aiders in the workplace to be immunised against HBV, unless the risk assessment indicates it is appropriate. As a first aider it is important to remember that you should not withhold treatment for fear of being infected with a BBV." Where I work, which is a university, we needed to respond to concerns people had raised about certain categories of first aider. We (safety), Occ Health, the student welfare service and the student health centre met up and agreed what our guidance on HepB vaccination would be. We decided that it was not necessary to offer "ordinary" first aiders vaccination. In a few circumstances, other staff would be offered it. There are many problems associated with HepB vaccination, such as: the person has to consent in the first place! are you going to say they can only be a first aider if they do? this will be a matter for local policy; they have to attend for all their jabs, and if they miss the 2nd one they have to start again; they are not fully protected until after the 3rd jab (here, that would be at least 6 months after starting the course); there is a total of 4 appointments to attend including the seroconversion test at the end (i.e. to check it has worked); and some people are non-responders to the vaccine so are not protected even after all the jabs. And they need a booster every three years. What I'm getting at is that this is a vaccination programme that has to be "managed" so should not be undertaken lightly. And the right info needs to be given to people - e.g. the fact that they can get this vaccination for HepB but would still be unprotected against other blood-borne viruses. But as John says, the risk to first aiders looking after an average population of people is very, very small. Sorry for the long winded reply but we found that apart from the HSE first aid guidance, which some people read and say "yes but..." - there seems to be no other official guide you can present to your colleagues, which is why I dealt with it using the "committee of local experts" route to define local policy.