Occupational Health

All Occupational Health staff should be aware that:

Reactions to Natural Rubber Latex (NRL) affect all areas of the healthcare sector, including the Occupational Health environment, because Occupational Health staff:

  • Have an increased risk of developing NRL allergy through the repeated use of NRL gloves.
  • They may need to advise sensitised staff.

They also have: 

  • A statutory responsibility to reduce the risk of sensitisation in themselves, their colleagues and clients. 

It is therefore essential that Occupational Health staff are aware and familiar with:

  • Their organisation’s Policy / or the organisation that they are contracted to) on action to protect staff who are allergic to NRL.
  • Their organisation’s / or the organisation that they are contracted to purchasing programme which only supports powder-free/low-protein NRL glove use and wherever possible NRL-free equipment and product purchasing.
  • Organisational and local Glove selection guides.
  • An organisational NRL-free resuscitation policy. ALL products must be NRL-free, as it makes no sense to use NRL when it may have been the cause of anaphylaxis. Click here for Resuscitation Council (UK) Guidelines. 
  • Occupational Health pre-screening questionnaires.
  • A regularly up-dated database of generic and specialty specific products which do and do not contain NRL which will be specific to department due to range of possible products used.
  • The need to minimise the purchase of NRL-containing products and check with manufacturers ~ possibly labelled
  • The Occupational Health / Health and Safety reporting mechanism for effective diagnostics of employed staff / or staff in post.
  • What Glove Materials for use by sensitised OH staff and for sensitised clients are available
  • What hand washing products and creams are available.
  • An Education programme to inform new and existing staff.
  • Where to find Posters for information, clearly displayed and on file.

Occupational Health staff will be required to:

  • Undertake pre-employment screening of all prospective employees working in the clinical environment – this could be as simple as adding a question on the Pre-Employment Health Questionnaire. 
  • Provide advice to all prospective employees and their managers regarding NRL-safe environments.
  • Provide advice to all employees with regard to NRL protein and chemical sensitisations. 
  • Undertake a risk assessment to determine whether an NRL-safe environment within OH clinical rooms should be the ‘norm’ to prevent / reduce the incidence of exposure to NRL, to both OH personnel and clients.
  • Undertake a risk-assessment to determine whether a NRL-free gloves should be used in a client testing / diagnostic situation, where the member of staff is, as yet, undiagnosed.
  • Develop a screening tool for identifying NRL Sensitivity, to assist in determining whether further diagnostics/testing are required.
  • Once a positive diagnosis of NRL allergy has been made, to undertake a risk assessment within clients workplace, in conjunction with the manager, to ensure a safe working environment for sensitised individuals.

Reporting agencies for adverse reactions to Natural Rubber Latex products

  • The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is a Special Health Authority charged with improving patient safety in the NHS.  It was created in 2001, following the publication of two reports addressing patient safety incidents in the NHS (An Organisation with a Memory and its follow-up, Building a Safer NHS for Patients).
  • The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a voluntary reporting system for reporting cases of NRL sensitisation in both patients and staff.