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Communicable Disease at Work

GayleGayle 30 Posts
in FMLA/ADA/Workers’ Comp Vote Up0Vote Down
A supervisor just came to me and shared that her employee told her, confidentially, that she has Hepatitis B. The supervisor was concerned that this employee poses a health risk to all who work here and felt that HR should know this and take whatever action is appropriate to protect others and to assist the employee. My read on this is that the employee has not come to me, her confidentiality has already been violated, there is little I can do to help her (she is already seeing a specialist)and the risk she poses to other employees is minimal. My questions is-what action (if any) should I take???
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  • 9 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • HatchetmanHatchetman 877 Posts
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    Contact your locla public health department to get information on the communicability of Hepatitis B. If the sueprvisor has a concern about a helath risk, most likely other emplyees do to. YOu'll need to perhaps discuss that or provide informatoin.

    Why do you think the employee needs to come to you?
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  • GayleGayle 30 Posts
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    I do not think the employee needs to come to me-since she did not-and the supervisor shared her private medical information-we are probably in violation of HIPAA and other laws--I did gather information from several sites regarding the disease-the risk of communication of this disease at work is not high--the employee has not shared this information with other employees-the situation as it stands now, requires no further action on the part of the company, as I see it...am I mis-reading this situation??? Thanks for your input!
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  • smaces_twinsmaces_twin 150 Posts
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    I don't think you violated HIPAA. If you are in HR, you should be OK to get this type of info. You just better keep it confidential.
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  • smaces_twinsmaces_twin 150 Posts
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    Do you perform Bloodborne Path training at your facility? If you do, everyone treats everyone as having a communicable disease if they bleed so you have nothing to worry about. If you don't perform the training, I think you need to. Keep the information private and inform the supervisor to do the same. No one needs to know.
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  • GayleGayle 30 Posts
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    Yes, we do Bloodborne Pathogen training ....if the employee were injured and there was the risk of blood exposure by those who did the clean-up then we would offer the shots, etc....thanks for your input!
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  • smaces_twinsmaces_twin 150 Posts
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    That's good you do the training. It is my understanding, however, that you should designate who is going to clean up blood spills and offer them Hep B vaccs. before they are exposed. If they do not want the vaccs. they have to sign a form that says so (CYA). The shots can be expensive, but it's cheaper than the alternative if an exposure occurs. Have a great weekend.
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  • GayleGayle 30 Posts
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    OK-we will check this out so we do it right---thanks for your help!
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  • safetysafety 768 Posts
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    There is a 24-hour window for those exposed to H-B who have not been vaccinated. If this occurs take the exposed ee to your physician and they can be treated for the exposure.
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  • Don DDon D 9,834 Posts
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    If I'm not mistaken, you are required to offer Hep-B shots to any ee you designate as an emergency responder, now, not just after potential exposure. Last year we were cited for not doing so and now we're waiting for five months to pass for the third in the three shot series. They either have to elect to take the shots or sign a declination. Then, following potential exposure, they have to be offered shots again.

    There is no HIPAA violation since the ee willingly disclosed her own pmi to a supervisor.
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