Rank: Forum user 
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I have just found out that one of our park rangers, who works in a country park, was diagnosed with weil's disease four days ago. The diagnosis was made when he was on annual leave and he only told his manager this morning. He is still on annual leave until next Thursday. I've also just been made aware by his manager that he most likely contracted it where he works a couple of weeks ago, when he fell into a small open sewer resulting in a cut to his leg. (his manager didnt report it to me at time). Now that I know, do I need to report it to the HSE straight away or is it within 10 days of knowing? Do I need to report it to any other agency? Are there any specific actions I need to take to prevent other getting infection apart from following the advice in INDG84? Thanks in advance
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Weil's disease isn't on the list of occupational diseases reportable under RIDDOR, so you wouldn't report it.
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Rank: Forum user
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As Weils disease is a bacterial infection I think it will be reportable as it is occupational exposure to a biological agent (reg 9), for cases such as this there is no defined time period other than as soon as you have been made aware of the diagnosis
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 2 users thanked bunster for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I initially thought that this only related to infections due to specific workplace activates eg working in a microbiology lab or working in healthcare rather than general infections arising out of workplace exposure. Then I read the link below and it makes it clear that any work related infection attributed to an occupational exposure to a biological agent should be reported. http://www.hse.gov.uk/biosafety/about.htm
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1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks guys, so it's a case of reporting it as soon as possible?
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Rank: Forum user
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Yes, you should report it as soon as possible after you have had confirmation of diagnosis. Leptospirosis is a biological pathogen and is therefore reportable under RIDDOR if exposure is related to a work place activity.
The following link has a table of those considered to be reportable. Whilst mainly focused on laboratories/healthcare professions, it is still a useful document:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/biosafety/biologagents.pdf
I hope your colleague makes a full and speedy recovery!
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Rank: Forum user
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Rank: Forum user
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Yes, had a case 5 or 6 years ago where a service engineer went to a sewerage works and had a similar problem. Needs to be reported as soon as you have a diagnosis. BTW, I think his manager needs to be made aware of the importance of timely reporting of near misses or first aid incidents whether they think these are significant or not. And I wonder, did the employee report the incident to the site manager at the time?
Originally Posted by: bunster 
As Weils disease is a bacterial infection I think it will be reportable as it is occupational exposure to a biological agent (reg 9), for cases such as this there is no defined time period other than as soon as you have been made aware of the diagnosis
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Rank: Forum user
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The employee did report it to his manager but the manager failed to share this information! Needless to say this has been escalated upwards!
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