Workers may be at significant risk of aquiring infections as a result of their work. This may be due to exposure to environmental infectious organisms in for example sewage (eg Hepatitis A), from air conditioning (eg Legionella), vector-borne disease (eg Lyme Borrelliosis) or from travel (eg Malaria, Dengue, Bilharzia etc) or directly from other humans or animals (eg Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Chamydia, Toxoplasmosis, Q Fever etc.).
Management should include risk assessment, risk management by minimising exposure, prophylactic treatment or immunisation, or treatment for those who have contracted disease.
Infected workers may also put colleagues or members of the public at risk. This is a particular issue for health care workers, who may transmit Hepatitis B and C, and in extremely rare occasions HIV. They may also pass on infection from contaminated skin, which is a particular risk in those with dermatitis and eczema who will have difficulty washing and eliminating infection from scaly or desquamating areas.