Risk Assessment for biological agents

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has released a useful and informative 'e-fact' document, number 53, on biological risk assessment. Biological agents are relevant to many trades and occupations but employers and employees tend to know little about the risk of exposure to biological agents or how to conduct a biological risk assessment.

Risk assessment for biological agents is a challenge for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are diverse and occur in many workplaces where they are completely overlooked. In addition, exposure limits have not been set for many of them. They may be hazardous at extremely low concentrations- no dose –response relationship, and biological agents are not visible to the naked eye. They are also able to reproduce.

The mechanism of infection is the transmission chain from the reservoir – (source of infection) – to the host (the employee). The transmission chain must be broken as near the source of infection as possible. Good personal hygiene and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) are major factors in avoiding infection.

The e-fact document contains information about biological agents and their respective hazards. This is followed by 'how to conduct a risk assessment' and a useful checklist in order to carry out a suitable assessment. The document also contains examples of solutions and finally a risk assessment relating to legionella as an example.

The e-fact can be viewed and downloaded from European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) – http://www.osha.europa.eu/.