Should a person with hep C be working as a kitchen hand? What precautions should she and other staff take?
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As an employer, you can't fire your Hepatitis C infected employee. To my knowledge, there aren't any industries in OZ (or elsewhere in the US) where Hepatitis C carriers cannot legally work, including health-care facilities {such as hospitals, nursing homes, and doctor's offices, among others}. I'm a Registered Nurse, and I'm Hepatitis C positive; my condition is known to my employer, and I still do full Registered Nurse work (including venopunction - drawing blood samples and starting IV medications) in Labor and Delivery Room, which is considered a high-risk area {high-risk for the employees, not for the patients}. Unlike HIV {which dies almost immediately once outside the body, excluding donor blood and blood products}, the Hepatitis C virus can live outside the body for long periods of time {weeks or even months}. And unlike HIV, household cleaners like chlorine bleach, Lysol or others can't kill the Hepatitis C virus; only autoclaving and a liquid named Cidex {$ 150.00 USD per gallon, and it expires 28 days after you open and activate it} can kill this virus. To minimize the risk of infection to your other employees, you may assign this particular person to duties that don't involve using sharp instruments such as knives [but you can't pay her less than she actually earns as a kitchen hand]. Of course, you can't tell the other workers that she has this disease, unless she gives you written consent to do so. For your information, as of this moment, for every person that's been diagnosed with Hepatitis C infection, there are nine others walking around infected but undiagnosed.
If the blood goes onto food, it will stay there. But if on a surface for 3 minutes, it will die immediately.
People who are hepatitis c positive are not precluded from any type of work. To disclose someone's confidential medical information may put you at risk for legal action (not sure what the laws are in Australia). Hepatitis C is not transmitted through food preparation. Anytime there is a possibility of exposure to blood, whether you know they have a disease or not, universal precautions should be taken. This employee should not be treated any differently than anyone else, nor should her job duties be changed. Hope this helps you.
and to add on to that...HCV is an enveloped virus, if the food is served hot, they don't survive
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