Accessibility statement

Personal health hazards

Tetanus

  • Tetanus can affect any person whose work involves contact with the soil. The organism can enter the body throughany break in the skin, including thorn-pricks. Tetanus is potentially fatal: immunisation before infection is the only certain way of dealing with it.
  • It is recommended that all fieldworkers are immunised against tetanus, especially for activities that are likely to give a tetanus prone injury.  This should be given at least 14 days before starting fieldwork.  It is also currently advised that boosters are only necessary if you have a tetanus prone injury.  You should arrange anti-tetanus injections or boosters through your own doctor.
  • If you have to handle soil or water during your work, keep any cuts or grazes on your hands or forearms covered by a waterproof dressing. Use gloves whenever practical.

Back to top

Leptospirosis (Weil's Disease)

  • Fieldworkers could be exposed to Leptospirosis (Weil’s Disease). This is an acute infection caused by bacteria known as leptospira. Human infection results from direct contact with the urine or tissues of an infected animal (particularly rats, cattle, pigs and dogs), or indirectly from contaminated water, soil or sewage. Infection may occur through mucous membranes, including the mouth and eyes, through breaks in the skin, or by inhalation.
  • This disease is usually contracted in or near canals, stagnant ponds, landfill sites and bodies of still or slow-moving water which have been contaminated with urine from infected animals. Avoid contact with such water, and treat any area which you know or suspect to be infested by rodents, or which has been contaminated by farm animals, with caution.
  • Protect yourself against infection by wearing protective clothing, particularly gloves, wherever possible. Barrier creams may also provide some protection where the manufacturers specify their suitability for the intended use. 
  • After working in contact with material which may have been contaminated by rodents or farm animals, wash your hands and forearms thoroughly with soap and water. If your clothes or footwear may have been contaminated, wash thoroughly after handling them. This is particularly important before eating, drinking, smoking, applying cosmetics or chewing gum. Wet protective clothing should be dried as soon as possible. Avoid rubbing your nose or mouth with your hands during work.
  • Act quickly to wash thoroughly in soap and water any cut, scratch or abrasion of the skin, whenever it occurs. Apply a clean dry dressing and protect it with a waterproof adhesive dressing. Keep the wound covered, re-dressing when necessary until it is quite healed. If clean water for washing is not available, use medical wipes.
  • Consult your doctor promptly if you sustain a wound which may have been contaminated.  In the early stages leptospirosis may resemble a number of other diseases, particularly influenza.  If you become ill seek medical advice promptly.  When you go to a doctor, inform him or her of your potential contact with leptospirosis.  

Back to top

Ticks & Lyme Disease

  • Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) is an infection caused by a bacterial spirochaete transmitted to man by the bite of sheep ticks and related species such as deer ticks. Other diseases can also be transmitted by ticks. Ticks are most common during the months of May-October with concentrations during the Spring and Autumn, but they may feed at any time of the year, particularly in mild weather. Optimum conditions for ticks are provided by some woodland, dense undergrazed grassland, heath and moorland.
  • Symptoms of Lyme Disease normally start between a week and a month after being bitten. The first sign is often (not always) a skin rash around the site of the bite (not to be confused with a normal sensitive reaction to the bite itself) or flu-like symptoms (headache, slight fever, neck stiffness, chills, tiredness, joint pains, loss of appetite, inability to sleep), or both. Other tick-borne diseases can produce similar symptoms although without the initial rash. If you develop these symptoms, seek medical advice promptly. Early treatment is generally effective. More serious arthritic, neurological or cardiac complications can develop weeks or months later. Serological tests for Lyme Disease are very unreliable except when the disease has progressed to the chronic stage, and even then antibody levels may not be diagnostic. During the first few weeks of infection only a third of sufferers have a raised antibody
    level. As serological tests are therefore of little value as screening tools, it is all the more important to take the following precautions.
  • Take the following precautions to avoid being bitten if you are working in ‘tick habitat’:
    • Wear appropriate clothing, especially to cover your legs. For trousers, fine close woven material is better than coarser fabrics to which a tick can more easily adhere.
    • Wear high boots or Wellingtons, or cover the gap between footwear and trousers with smooth gaiters. At the least, tuck your trousers into your socks
    • Keep your arms covered wherever possible.
    • Tuck your shirt into your trousers.
    • Insect repellent sprayed onto boots and ankles may help.
  • Remove ticks promptly. Although not all tick bits result in infection, the sooner you remove the tick the chance there is.
    • If you notice ticks during the day, remove them without delay.
    • If you have to make a long journey after working in a tick-infested area, change out of your working clothesfirst. (Bag the working clothes securely for washing).
    • Inspect your clothing and skin for ticks when changing after work.
  • Before and after removing ticks, wash your hands in soap and water, or clean them with a disposable wipe. Take special care not to leave the mouth parts in the skin; the following method of removal is intended to minimise that possibility.
    • The feeding tick lies parallel to the skin with its mouth parts at right angles to the skin.
    • Gently grasp the mouth parts using fine tweezers, specially designed tick extractors or a medical wipe.
    • Raise the body of the tick so that it is in line with the mouth parts.
    • Twist it slowly without pulling or jerking. This may take 4 or 6 half-turns, but the tick will eventually come out cleanly.
    • Be patient. If the tick is gorged (swollen) do not burst it during this process. Ticks may bite areas of the body which are not easily reached; apply petroleum jelly to make it easier to remove them from tender places.
  • Clean the place where it has been with a medical wipe and apply antiseptic. Kill the tick by crushing, burning or dropping in alcohol. Do not crush it between your fingernails.
  • If the mouth parts do break off under the skin, or any skin rash or undiagnosed illness follows tick bites or work in areas where ticks abound, get prompt medical advice. Alert your doctor so that Lyme Disease can be considered in a diagnosis.
  • Further information on lyme disease is given on the NHS web-site

Back to top

Rabies

  • Some species of British bats may carry rabies; many more species overseas carry the disease.
  • Do not handle either live or dead bats unless you have received full vaccination against rabies (handling of live bats requires licensing anyway since they are protected species).
  • Avoid bat roosts since rabies can be contracted via aerosols. If a bat bites you, seek medical advice IMMEDIATELY and inform the Departmental Safety Adviser.

Toxic Blue-Green Algae

  • If you do fieldwork on lakes, reservoirs, ponds, canals or rivers, or handle samples from such locations in the laboratory, you should be aware of the potential dangers of touching or swallowing water containing high concentrations of blue-green algae.
  • Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are natural inhabitants of many inland waters. Though microscopic, they may multiply sufficiently in summer months to colour the water green, blue-green or brown. In calm weather, these bluegreen algae can float to the surface, forming a scum which may be carried downwind by light breezes and deposited on the shore. The material may appear as broad streaks, flecks or a thick paste, rather as if oil-based paint has been spilled. Algae washed up on the shoreline may appear white after a few days because the pigments have been leached from the material, which has a very unpleasant odour.
  • All the blue-green algae which may form such scums are known to be capable of producing toxins. Ingestion of toxic algae can lead to vomiting, diarrhoea, flu-like symptoms and liver damage; they are also poisonous to animals, causing severe illness and death. Contact with toxic scum material may lead to skin irritation and rashes; wearers of wet- and dry-suits are especially prone to these symptoms. Not all scums are toxic, and the degree of toxicity of those that are is known to vary through time. Even if the alga is non-toxic, decomposing scum may contain harmful bacteria and other pathogens. It is sensible to regard all such scums as being potentially harmful: avoid contact with scums and the water in the immediate vicinity, wherever possible. Away from scums, the much lower concentrations of algae are correspondingly less hazardous.
  • When working in or near water affected by blue-green algae, wear protective gloves where possible and avoid skin contact with the water. Take particular care when launching boats, handling equipment or dragging nets, etc. through water. Use tap water carried especially for the purpose (or medicated wipes if water is not available) to remove any splashes and clean hands thoroughly before eating, drinking or smoking.
  • If you cannot avoid contact with scum and you develop symptoms of poisoning within 48 hours, seek immediate medical advice.

Bracken

  • Bracken is known to be toxic and carcinogenic to livestock, and carcinogenic to experimental animals. It also forms an ideal habitat for the ticks which may carry Lyme disease.
  • Wherever possible avoid walking through bracken, or handling bracken. This is particularly important during periods of spore release, typically during the Autumn. If you cannot avoid sporulating bracken, wear a mask.

Allergies

  • It is assumed that fieldworkers will be aware of their own individual allergies, if any, and the appropriate precautions and treatments. Advise your colleagues if you might be at risk from a serious allergic reaction during fieldwork (for example, from bee-stings) and what they should do if this occurs.
  • Be aware, however, that individual sensitivities may change with time and that individuals might be exposed to novel allergens during fieldwork. If you suspect that you are suffering from an allergic reaction, seek medical advice
    promptly.
  • Contact with the sap of giant hogweed can cause serious skin irritation. Avoid it.
  • Oil seed rape is suspected of causing allergic reactions in some individuals who have no previously known sensitivities. Do not attempt to force a way through or past a standing crop, especially when it is in flower.