Key “measles outbreak” into a news search engine (or
ask Siri) and you will see stories from Canada, New Zealand, the US, Syria and
many other countries about recent clusters of cases in schools and communities. Other search terms reveal similar results. The health concerns reported are often focused
on kids but occasionally you see stories that include concerns for teachers,
staff and other community members.
Every time there
is a reported “outbreak” I get a lot of
questions about the compensability and prevention obligations of employer
regarding infectious diseases.
As every parent,
caregiver, and early childhood educator knows, a child with a cold can easily
pass on their illness to siblings, parents, nannies, caregivers and educators
they come into contact. Considering
colds alone, young children may contract 8 to 10 each year before they turn 2 years old (NIH)
while older children get an average of 6 to 8 colds per year (Worrall, Common Cold, Can Fam Phys, Nov
2011; 57(11): 1289–1290). Given that
the average cold lasts about 10 days, young children can spend a third to a
quarter of their pre-school lives with a runny nose. Add to that other common childhood diseases
like influenza, measles, and chicken pox
and you might be forgiven for concluding that “children” are nature’s most
perfectly designed vectors of disease.
In reality, however, limiting the spread
of infectious diseases can be achieved through frequent, effective hand-washing,
routine site hygiene and “distance” during illness. While inconvenient for parents, keeping kids
home when they are infectious (in the case of colds, about five days after the
cold symptoms begin) can be an effective strategy in preventing the spread of
disease to other students, staff and the community. There is no vaccine (yet) for the common cold
or norovirus, but vaccination is another effective strategy for protecting both
the person immunized and the unimmunized population they are in contact with
from serious illnesses like many seasonal flu strains, measles, mumps, and
chicken pox.
Childcare centres, kindergartens and
schools are obvious targets for preventing the spread of disease. Sadly, budgetary pressures may lead to
actions that actually increase the potential for the spread of disease. Washrooms
that are cleaned less frequently, hot water being turned down or off, and inadequate supplies for washing and drying
hands may cost more in terms of work absences and the health of students,
families and the community than any marginal savings that may be gained.
Is any of this a workplace health
issue? Yes. It is easy to overlook daycares, preschools,
tutoring centres and regular schools when thinking about workplaces but for the
teachers, teaching assistants, early
childhood educators, custodian and office staff, these locations are
workplaces. And the owners, operators
and school boards responsible for them have a duty to provide for the health
and safety of all workers and other persons (including children) in the
workplace regardless of the compensability of any particular case.
Many educators, other school-based staff,
and cleaners contract illness in their workplace. Some file a claim with a
workers’ compensation authority but many simply take two aspirin and a dose of
personal sick leave. For illnesses that
are common and active in the community, this is reasonable—it is as likely as
not the disease was contracted in the community rather than the school. This does not remove or lessen the duty of
the employer to provide a safe and healthy work environment. In the case of specific illnesses such as measles,
mumps, chickenpox, norovirus, Fifth’s disease, etc. the teachers and other
staff infected in a localized outbreak may be maybe entitled to workers’
compensation.
A few years ago, the British Columbia
Teachers’ Federation circulated the accompanying poster to all schools. It consolidated on a single page many of the illnesses
law and policy have defined as occupational diseases that may be work-related
for teachers. The list of diseases that
may be related is long but it is far from exhaustive. In practice, very few
cases are reported to WorkSafeBC or local WCB agency. This
means that the lost wages and medical costs are being wrongly attributed and
born to a greater degree by workers and taxpayers.
The direct message of the poster is
simple: Don’t use sick leave for a
work-related illness. The rationale for
the message is even stronger and goes beyond considerations of who pays. Every unreported work-related illness is a
missed opportunity to review the circumstances and protect workers and others
from harm.
Next time you attend an immunization
clinic or have to stay home with sick child, have a thought for the health of
educators, staff and caregivers deserving of protection.
 |
| British Columbia Teachers, Federation (BCTF.ca) Occupational Disease Poster (used with permission). |
1 comment:
Are you not missing the population most at risk for contracting an infections disease from the workplace: HEALTH CARE WORKERS!
Teachers are at relatively low risk considering they do not deal with bodily fluids (nearly as often) and clearly children in schools (whoa re sick) are far less in acute then those admitted to an inpatient unit.
Health Care workers will often be changing adult incontinence pads that are full of c-dififcile feces, they are at high risk for needle stick, high risk for contracting respiratory infections
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