Influenza A (H1N1): What you need to know...

October 2009 (thanks to SD6 for this)

• Know Your Level of Risk
• Will Schools Be Closed?
• Protect Yourself and Others
• Know Your Rights to Safe Work

Teachers are expressing concern about the coming flu season and, in particular, the threat of an Influenza A pandemic. Influenza A is a group of influenza viruses including H1N1 and Avian Flu, to name two of the more concerning strains.

This is a somewhat detailed document. However it is not possible to cover all scenarios and situations.
.....

Know Your Level of Risk

Teachers must judge their own vulnerability, and talk to their doctors now about a plan if they have concerns.

There are two specific groups who are at a higher level of risk: people with compromised immune systems and women who are pregnant. If you are at a higher level of risk, make an appointment to see your doctor and, if your doctor believes that you should not be exposed to influenza, get a note to make your administrator aware. Copy the note to [the union] office.

Ask your administrator if there are confirmed cases of Influenza A at your worksite. If so, you have the option of asking for an accommodation to work at another site, or requesting a medical leave until you have been vaccinated.

Teachers teaching on call who are at a higher risk should also seek medical advice and, if your doctor believes that you should not be exposed, ask for a note to have on hand should you be working at a site with reported cases of influenza. TOCs who are at higher risk should ask about numbers of confirmed cases at the school site to which they are being called.

For some, this plan may include refusal of unsafe work as soon as Influenza A is suspected in a school, not when the teacher becomes symptomatic. The union will support this process, which is explained more fully in a following section.
....

Protect Yourself and Others

• Get reliable information on dealing with influenza (www.fightflu.ca for example).
• If you are sick, stay home!

Know Your Rights to Safe Work

The Workers’ Compensation Board (also known as WCB and “WorkSafe BC”) has an Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (3.12.1) that governs unsafe work. It says:

“A person must not carry out or cause to be carried out any work process or operate or cause to be operated any tool, appliance, or equipment if that person has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person.”

This means that any worker has the right to refuse unsafe work under these terms.

However, keep in mind that the final decision will be made by a WCB Prevention Officer. These officers will treat Influenza A or any communicable disease as one that is a “community spread and acquired infection”. Their interpretation is that, even though schools are identified as “amplification points” for community borne illnesses, you have as much chance of picking up the virus at the grocery store, movie theatre, or from other members of your family as you do at work.

There is no reason that a member cannot exercise this right as each decision is done on a case by case basis. Workers exercising these rights are not subject to discipline during any investigation by WCB. Once a Prevention Officer has made a decision, though, the worker and employer must comply with any order issued.

In summary, members have the right to refuse unsafe work. However we cannot predict any outcomes of exercising this right as WCB Prevention Officers may view Influenza A as a community and not a workplace infection.