You have just started work as the health and safety professional employed by a m

Question

You have just started work as the health and safety professional employed by a mining company that operates a camp for its Fly In/ Fly Out workforce. Workers usually work a roster of nine days of 12 hour shifts on, followed by five days off, when workers return home. The camp provides a high standard of amenities to ensure employees enjoy a quality lifestyle while they are away from home, with a swimming pool, sporting courts (used for tennis, soccer, volleyball, lawn bowls and other sports) and a wet mess. Employees have their own air-conditioned accommodation units, with ensuite bathrooms, television, telephone and internet. Employees' units are cleaned twice a week. Meals are provided in mess facilities - main meals include a selection of hot and cold dishes and healthy, low-fat options are always available.

The camp has its own water treatment plant, with an environmental authority to draw raw water from a nearby creek. The water is treated using traditional coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation and filtration methods with UV disinfection. Sewage from the camp is treated in large septic tanks that discharge to transpiration trenches.

In going over the recent leave reports, you notice that there have been a number of cases of diarrhoea reported amongst the workers. These seem to resolve themselves while the workers are at home but symptoms resume when they return to work.

Write a report discussing the topic, identifying what you think may be the cause of the problem and suggesting ways in which the problem can be rectified. Use appropriate information from your required reading and other scholarly sources to support your conclusions and justify your recommendations.

Note:

A spreadsheet of water testing results and a plan of the camp is provided below.

Word count: 750 words

Explanation / Answer

Diarrhoea occurs when fluid cannot be absorbed from the contents of your bowel or when extra fluid is secreted into your bowel, causing watery poo.

Short-term diarrhoea:

Diarrhoea is usually a symptom of a bowel infection (gastroenteritis), which can be caused by:

A virus - like norovirus or rotavirus

Bacteria – like campylobacter, Clostridium difficile, Escherichia coli, salmonella or shigella; these can all cause food poisoning

Parasites – like the Giardia instentinalis parasite that causes giardiasis

Other possible causes of short-term diarrhoea include:

Feelings of anxiety

Drinking too much alcohol

A food allergy

Appendicities

Damage to the lining of intestines as a result of radiotherapy

Long-term diarrhoea:

Conditions that can cause persistent diarrhoea include:

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – a poorly understood condition that affects normal functions of bowel.

Inflammatory bowel disease – conditions that cause the gut to become inflamed, like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Coeliac disease – a digestive condition where you have an adverse reaction to gluten

Bile and mal-absorption – where bile produced by liver builds up in digestive system

Chronic pancreatitis –inflammation of pancreas

Diverticular disease – where small bulges or pockets develop in lining of the intestine

Bowel cancer – this can cause diarrhoea and blood in your stools

Most common cause of diarrhea is an infection of intestines due to a virus, bacteria or parasite; a condition known as gastroenteritis. These infections are often acquired from food or water that has been contaminated by stool or directly from another person who is infected. It may be divided into three types: short duration watery diarrhea, short duration bloody diarrhea and if it lasts for more than two weeks, persistent diarrhea. Short duration watery diarrhea may be due to an infection by cholera. A number of non-infectious causes may result in diarrhea, including hyperthyroidism, lactose intolerance, inflammatory bowel disease, a number of medications and irritable bowel syndrome. In most cases, stool cultures are not required to confirm exact cause.

Most important aspect of treating diarrhea involves avoiding dehydration and replacing lost fluid. Because plain water does not contain sugar, sodium or potassium, which are also lost in diarrhea, it is important to consume plenty of fluids that contain these substances. Examples of appropriate drinks include water, prepared re-hydration solutions, chicken soup. If one is also vomiting, patient must try taking tiny amounts of liquid every 15 minutes. After one is able to hold down liquids, one can advance to a soft diet.

One may be asked to avoid fats, sweets, coffee and milk products until one is completely over the diarrhea.

Effective antidiarrheal medicines like loperamide, which work by slowing down muscle movements in the gut, are available over the counter for adults. Affected persons should seek medical advise before using anti-diarrhea medicines if there is blood is the poo, a high temperature or other symptoms.

In severe diarrhea due to infectious bacteria, the doctor may advise taking antibiotics to help resolve symptoms. However, antibiotics will not help with viral diarrhea.

In severe diarrhoea due to infectious bacteria, your doctor may advise taking antibiotics to help resolve the symptoms. However, antibiotics won't help with viral diarrhoea, which is the most common type of infectious diarrhoea.

Prevention of diarrhoea: prevention of infectious diarrhoea is carried out by improved sanitation, clean drinking water and hand-washing with soap. Oral rehydration solution, which is clean water with modest amounts of salts and sugar, is the treatment of choice. Zinc tablets are recommended. When people have diarrhea, it is recommended that they continue to eat healthy food. In those with severe dehydration, intravenous fluids may be required. Most cases can be managed well with fluids by mouth. antibiotics may be recommended in few cases like those who have bloody diarrhea and high fever, those with diarrhea following traveling and those who grow specific bacteria or parasites in their stool. Most important way to avoid diarrhea is to avoid coming into contact with infectious agents that can cause it. This means that hygienic food preparation and storage techniques and good hand washing, especially when preparing food and after using the toilet are very important.

Precautions to take to stop diarrhea from spreading:

Disinfect the toilet, handle and seat after the person has used it each time

Do not share towels, flannels, cutlery or utensils with the person who is unwell

keep them at home until at least 48 hours after last episode of diarrhea.

One of the most common causes of infectious diarrhea, is a lack of clean water. Improper fecal disposal leads to contamination of groundwater. This can lead to widespread infection among a population, in absence of water filtration or purification. Human feces contains a variety of harmful human pathogens.

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