A really frustrating problem - some staff are complaining that they are receiving insect bites whilst in the workplace. The individuals believe that the little blighters are coming in with the stock, although we do have windows and doors open during the warmer weather. We engage an external contractor to treat all our units routinely and have discussed with our suppliers who assure us that no living creatures can withstand the processes they subject the materials to. Two questions really : - Should insect bites be entered in the accident book (we do at the moment, but I often wonder if they are work related??) - What else can we do (other than close the windows and doors and make everyone wear long sleeves/trousers) Thanks all - hope I've not made you too itchy :)

If I was being bitten by insects at work, I think I'd be inclined to get myself some insect repellant lotion, and apply that. I wouldn't put it in the accident book.

Joanne we get our staff to fill in an accident report form so we are able to spot trends, Zimmy almost hit the "nail" on the head by mentioning fleas, what we have found is that the staff bring them in from home off their pets, we proved this by relocating a whole team who were complaining of bites so we moved them, the problem followed them. Put some Flea traps down and check them after a few days you might be surprised. Sorry Zimmy couldn't resist!

Do they make flea traps Sean size?... Hope so...I have to tread softly though!!! Don't want to trip when I sneak up on him... :-) have a good weekend all... except sean, natch :-)

Yep, were fairly sure they are bites, especially as it only happens when the weather in good, so not very frequently this year, (there is a bright side to having a lousy summer!) The stock I'm referring to is rolls of material, however, the cardboard sheets used for packing sometimes takes the blame too. Should I be offering insect repellant as an additional control measure, although I have to say, I think the bringing them in from home suggestion is the most likely. Although, it is a little bit tricky to suggest that to the "injured" parties!!

Some years ago I was asked to investigate a case in a warehouse of insect bites. The GP had stated that these were definitely insect bites. The workforce were insistent that these were from cardboard fleas that came in with the packaging. It only happened in warm weather, of course. Investigation showed that the real cause was friction between bare arms and the cardboard. Of course, bare arms were only found in warm weather! I was in conversation with an occupational physician who commented that he had just investigated a claim for compensation due to problems with chocolate moths. Wonderfully inventive, some people. If only that creativity could be put to good use. Chris P.S. It may be Friday, but these are true cases!!!

We do record insect bites. This is because we house the National Bee Unit and people do get stung (but we are not always certain whose bees are doing the stinging). We have had to introduce control measures such as banning mowers and other noisy machines from being used near the hives. We also have inspectors and scientists who visit hives and are also at risk of being stung. We have had a couple of people develop nasty anaphylactic shock in relation to this work, so again we need to keep an eye on it. One interesting case was of someone who was stung by bee in France while doing some work for us and they developed a nasty reaction. Was that a RIDDOR? (reported it as such) We also have people working in woods, moorland etc, and this year we have had a number of people bitten by ticks, which might carry Lyme’s disease. We have never had problems in offices ( despite having our own breeding colonies of insects) apart from people have complaining of ‘cable bugs’ , which is actually people feeling the effects of static electricity in warm dry offices with synthetic carpets.