Prof Raymond Agius

The Covid-19 Inquiry's Module 3 Report to be published on Thursday is eagerly awaited by those concerned with the Occupational Health of Health Care Workers (topic sections 7 & 8)

Honoured to be invited to speak, at the start of this conference, on the subject of "After the pandemic - the way ahead for Occupational Medicine"

UK Govt has been sitting on the recommendations, from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council about Covid in Health Care Workers, for more than 3 years !

As regards worker protection, see my pinned post. I'm not legally qualified to opine re the employer's responsibility towards an employee's household. Intuitively I'd say it's a poor employer that wouldn't let a worker use their own FFP to protect their family. bsky.app/profile/prof...

breathefreely.org.uk/ventilation-...

Resource: Promoting respiratory infection safety in the workplace - A protocol Organisations looking for guidance on how to keep staff safe from respiratory infection now have a new resource. The Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, has developed a proto...

and this advice from New Zealand is also highly relevant to protect against covid and similar infections: www.phcc.org.nz/news/resourc...

COVID-19: toolkit for GPs and GP practices Comprehensive guidance for GPs, partners and practice managers to manage employment and contractual issues and service provision during the coronavirus pandemic.

www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-s...

Petition: Introduce new air quality and PPE rules for health and social care settings We want the Government to set new rules on air quality and infection control in health and social care settings, to prevent and control airborne infections, with new ventilation and filtration require...

Signing this petition might help encourage the Health & Safety Executive to develop Guidance or, better still, an Approved Code of Practice to protect Health & Social Care Workers from airborne infection: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

Good qualitative study on long covid in health care workers to complement the quantitative studies.

A better approach to mitigate the risk of airborne infections in workplaces Although the worst of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic appears to be over, the burden of airborne infection in workplaces remains unacceptably high, l

" A better approach to mitigate the risk of airborne infections in workplaces " - This Editorial I wrote and posted about last year has now appeared in the printed version of the journal. doi.org/10.1093/occm...

Indeed.

More accurately, for all of us in the "Old World":

Pi day is the 22nd of July

(*not* the 14th of March)

Protection from covid-19 at work: health and safety law is fit for purpose Shortcomings in protection from contracting covid at work arise from legislation being ignored, argue these authors The 2020 Coronavirus Act and ensuing secondary legislation, as well as official gov...

The threshold that Parliament set in the 1974 H&S@W Act is not absolute but "to ensure .. health & safety .. so far as reasonably practicable" doi.org/10.1136/bmj....

Bienvenido. Hay mucha gente aquí del éXodo de allí.

This is catastrophic. I (successfully) sat the MRCP(UK) exams in 1979 & would have been devastated had I been told "sorry - we made a mistake & gave you the wrong result". Physicians & the public await a more detailed account of the reasons for this "error" & what the Federation is doing about it

With better prevention especially control measures in workplaces (eg ventilation & respiratory protection), so many sequelae of Covid could have been prevented. www.context.news/socioeconomi...

A better approach to mitigate the risk of airborne infections in workplaces Although the worst of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic appears to be over, the burden of airborne infection in workplaces remains unacceptably high, l

Workplaces should be foci to diminish the risk of airborne infection eg flu, RSV, Covid, HMPV etc doi.org/10.1093/occm...

"Healthcare workers should get covid-19 vaccinations": my @bmj.com letter prompted by the Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation Statement on covid-19 which made no recommendation on vaccination for healthcare workers

www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Government to lead UK emergency pandemic exercise in autumn The stress test will involve thousands of people to help the UK prepare for potential future threats.

Will the UK emergency pandemic exercise involve running & testing ventilation / filtration, & deployment of respirators for health & social care workers & susceptible people? www.bbc.com/news/article...

David Cameron: I will kill off safety culture 'We need to realise, collectively, that we cannot eliminate risk and that some accidents are inevitable,' PM says

Not just Mogg, the erstwhile leader of his party & Prime Minister vowed to kill off Health & Safety culture. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Yes indeed. Squamous cell carcinoma of the scrotum in chimney sweeps = probably the first occupational cancer to be described. (It can occur in other occupations too - even nowadays).

Unfortunately many people tend to confuse the 'age effect' and the 'birth cohort effect'

bsky.app/profile/prof...

Agreed. bsky.app/profile/prof...

The HSE document in the link discusses the concept of "as low as reasonable practicable" in the context of HASAWA 1974. The WEL for CO2 was based on toxicity not as a surrogate for ventilation. www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/expe....

Hospitals in the west reintroduce masks after rise in flu cases Health chiefs have urged people with colds or coughs not to visit loved ones in the hospital.

5 years after covid-19 hit us,& after spending £billions on personal protective equipment, health care workers are still not given respirators as protection against aerosols of influenza or other viruses. Instead surgical masks are worn as fig leaves. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bsky.app/profile/prof...

FFP3 with head straps instead of ear loops would be even better. If it's hot and stuffy an exhalation valve is OK.

COVID lead with the BMA, @profraymondagius.bsky.social, said the delays were inexcusable.

"The government had a moral duty to look after people who put their lives at risk for us all, and I think time may prove it had a legal duty as well."

PS: NB: big gaps in the side of the surgical mask in the headline photo = plenty of leakage for inhaled air to be sucked in through there. Plus any air that is ''filtered'' through the surgical mask will still contain a lot of aerosol (compared to the high filtration efficiency of a respirator)

UK doctors and nurses with long COVID to sue for compensation | Context Health workers who fell ill on COVID pandemic frontline sue employers as they battle life-changing disabilities

"UK doctors and nurses with long COVID to sue for compensation" just published in "Context" (part of @reuters.com ).
Quotes from @the-bma.bsky.social

www.context.news/socioeconomi...