- Occupational Health and Safety:
- Occupational health and Safety
- Risk Assessment
- Toxic Gas
- SEVESO
- Lithium batteries
Biological Risk
Biological Risk refers to the possibility of contracting an infectious disease during work activities entailing exposure to Biological Agents (BA), defined as any micro-organism (microbiological entity, cellular or otherwise, able to reproduce or transfer genetic material) even if genetically modified, cellular culture (result of in vitro growth of cells derived from multicellular organisms) and human endoparasite that might cause infections, allergies or intoxications.
According to the risk of infection that might occur, biological agents are divided into four groups:
- they have low probability of causing disease in humans;
- they may cause disease in humans and represent a risk for workers. They are not very likely to spread in the community and effective prophylactic or therapeutic measures are normally available;
- they may cause serious disease in humans and represent a serious risk for workers. The biological agent may spread in the community, but effective prophylactic or therapeutic measures are normally available;
- they may cause serious disease in humans and represent a serious risk for workers and have a high risk of spreading in the community; no effective prophylactic or therapeutic measures are normally available.
In the assessment of biological risk, the Employer must take into account all available information concerning the characteristics of Biological Agents.