I have now had clearance from both the NCCA and Peter Collins to copy the Inoculations article onto the internet forums. peter feels that as it is a health and safety issue rather than technical or business, it would be of benefit to all to release it immediately rather than wait for a month or so from it's publication date.
SAFE and HEALTHY cleaning
Ken
The importance of inoculations
Peter Collins
Every practitioner who carries out trauma, fire or flood work should have vaccinations to protect them from possible disease. I would also stress that carpet and upholstery technicians need to be immunised too, as there are times when you may be asked to clean up urine, vomit, or blood spillages. Just wearing gloves, or a mask does not protect you fully. It is easy to be complacent and think that it will never happen to you, but what if it does? You wouldn't be able to work for weeks, months, even years and the worst-case scenario is that you could die from a disease you have contracted. It is never worth the risk! You need to be vaccinated wherever possible.
Some vaccinations do incur a charge, but this is a small price to pay for your wellbeing. If you are an employee, your company is obliged to pay for you to be adequately immunised, in line with health and safety regulations. If you are self-employed, you can pay for them through your own business. In both situations records of your health and any vaccinations you receive must be kept.
Although there are many diseases that can threaten our wellbeing, I will start with hepatitis A and B, because there is a vaccination available for these illnesses.
Hepatitis A is spread through contaminated food and water. It can cause inflammation of the liver and jaundice, and occurs throughout the world. Hepatitis B (HBV) is a highly infectious virus, spread through blood, semen, and other bodily fluids; even in tiny quantities of infected fluid this virus can be passed on. It can live for quite long periods of time outside the body given the right conditions. For example it can live for approximately seven days in the air, while, in an anaerobic environment (such as under a carpet where blood coagulates) it can live for an even longer period. Although it is more likely that a person may contract HBV by coming into contact with fresh blood or contaminated fluids, it is worth remembering that HBV can also be contracted through handling dried blood or inanimate objects. For most healthy people who contract Hepatitis B (HBV) there is a good chance that they will recover over time, however the marker of the HBV infection remains in their blood. Acute HBV infections can lead to serious and life threatening conditions, namely liver disease and cancer. Hepatitis C (HCV) is another form of the disease; it is more persistent than HBV and if contracted, you can become a carrier for the rest of your life, causing risk to other people. This form of Hepatitis can also lead to liver cirrhosis or liver cancer if it has become chronic.
It should also be noted that carpet and upholstery portable extraction equipment should not be used to clean blood or body fluids, the reason being if you use them inside a building you may aerolize contaminated liquids through the vacuum and exhaust of the machine. This can result in the release of harmful biological and disease causing pathogens into the air. Worse still, you may even transport diseases to your next customer's home and it may become very difficult to sanitise your machine. If you do carry out this service, use only machines that are designed for the job and no other. This also applies to truck mounted extraction machines. Remember also that the liquid waste has to be legally disposed of and the machines have to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitised before the next job, this includes hoses, tools and any other equipment used.
Vaccination for pigeon related diseases is something else to consider. There are three main diseases, namely histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis and psittacosis. In many situations when cleaning up after a trauma, flood or fire, pigeon droppings can be present and it is these that carry the virus. Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by a fungus, which grows in pigeon droppings. It can also be found growing in soil and is found throughout the world. You can contract this disease through breathing in the fungus, which causes an infection; this usually appears about ten days after ingestion. The symptoms are fatigue, fever and chest pains, however, some people do not show any symptoms and this disease cannot be transmitted from person to person. Cryptococcosis is another fungal disease present in pigeon droppings and includes the same characteristics, symptoms and ingestion period as histoplasmosis. Psittacosis is also known as ornithosis, or parrot disease, this is similar to the two aforementioned diseases, but symptoms also include headaches, rashes and chills, and it can also cause pneumonia, but with the use of antibiotics it usually clears up quickly.
There are also vaccines available for tetanus, polio, diphtheria and typhoid. These are all diseases you could also come into contact with while carrying out your job.
Remember not only are the vaccines there to protect you, your personal protective equipment (PPE) is as well, keep that in good working order and repair and together with the vaccines you will be working as safely as you can.