Health: Prevent seasonal illness

Performance / 13 January 2012

As the nights draw in and flu season arrives, employers should be prepared for a rise in sickness absence. Alison Hjul asks what managers can do to help prevent seasonal illnesses

Winter brings many delights – Christmas, snow and the excuse to drink mulled wine by a roaring fire. Yet many of us can feel miserable as seasonal flu causes us to cough, wheeze and shiver our way through the festive season.

Influenza, or flu, is an acute viral infection of the respiratory tract. Although symptoms can include a dry cough, sore throat and stuffy nose, it differs from the common cold in that it is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, chills, muscle pains and fatigue.

Most of us will recover within a week, but flu may result in serious complications and, in extreme cases, can be fatal.

We can get flu all year round, but it mostly hits in winter, with a significant impact on workplace absence and productivity. A total of 7.6 million working days a year are lost to flu, at a cost of £1.35 billion to the British economy, according to research by the Co-operative Pharmacy. Its survey last year of 3,000 workers found that flu accounts for the most days off work of all the short-term illnesses.

Since infected individuals are also likely to be tired, weak and less productive when they return to work, managers are motivated to stop the spread of flu in the workplace.

Vulnerable staff

Employers should identify employees who are most at risk. These include staff with underlying health conditions, particularly respiratory or cardiac disease, those who are immunosuppressed, such as people undergoing chemotherapy treatment, and pregnant women.

Try honey and lemon in hot water, which not only soothes, but has antiviral constituents.

Eileen Folan, naturopath and nutritional therapist

Last winter people in risk groups were 15 times more likely to get seriously ill or die from flu than otherwise healthy people, according to the Department of Health. The NHS says vaccination gives 70-80% protection against the virus; and vaccinated individuals who get flu are likely to have less severe symptoms.

As protection only lasts one season, those who were vaccinated last year need to get vaccinated again. This season’s vaccine protects against the same three strains of flu as last year’s – including the H1N1 virus that caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

Managers should increase awareness of flu vaccination by letting staff know where it is available, who is eligible for free vaccination and the benefits of getting vaccinated. They may also wish to reassure employees that the vaccine won’t give them flu – although they could get a fever, aching muscles, and soreness at their injection site.

Given the business cost of potentially large numbers of staff falling ill with flu, many employers have developed programmes to encourage all employees to get vaccinated – through on-site occupational health providers, for example. Alternatively, they can issue staff with vouchers to fund their own vaccines. Major retail pharmacies, such as Boots and ASDA, sparked a price war last season by reducing the price of the vaccine to £7.

Once someone suspects they have flu, they should stay away from work until they’re feeling better, since flu is highly infectious. The virus can spread rapidly through droplets produced when the infected person sneezes or coughs, through physical contact, or by contact with hard surfaces on which the virus is deposited.

Someone will normally feel ill within a few days of being infected, with symptoms peaking after two or three days. They can unwittingly spread their germs as they’ll usually be infectious a day before symptoms start, and for a further five or six days after.

Scrupulous hygiene is advisable during the flu season. Staff should wash their hands regularly with soap and water, and keep hard surfaces, such as keyboards and telephones, clean and disinfected.

While there is no cure for flu, anti-viral medicines such as Tamiflu can relieve some symptoms and reduce the risk of complications. Serious symptoms, such as persistent fever or cough, may indicate a more severe infection, however. Patients should visit their doctor, who may prescribe antibiotics (these only work against bacterial infections, not viral infections such as flu) and, in the worst cases, hospitalisation.

For most of us, however, common sense and natural remedies are the best option. “Our bodies need rest to recover,” says Eileen Folan, naturopath and nutritional therapist. “Taking lots of fluids is very important. Also, try honey and lemon in hot water, which not only soothes, but has antiviral constituents."