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<table><tbody><tr><td><p>Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA), all
employers must provide (so far as is reasonably practicable) a safe place of work
and safe systems of work. This includes HM Prison and Probation Service for public
sector prisons, and G4S/Sodexo/Serco for privately managed prisons.HM Prison and Probation
Service offers and provides Hepatitis B vaccinations, followed by all required vaccination
courses and/or blood tests, to ensure staff are protected at work. These are administered
by our Occupational Health supplier, Optima Health, for Prison Officers, First Aid
Officers and Operational Support grade staff across public sector prisons in England
and Wales. The majority of public sector prisons have received Hepatitis B immunisation
clinics in 2019. The remaining establishments will receive their clinics in the next
few months. Human resources arrangements in privately managed prisons, including offering
and providing Hepatitis B vaccinations, are the responsibility of providers. There
is no preventative vaccine to protect against Hepatitis C. Therefore, post exposure
management such as immediate first aid followed by appropriate risk assessment, is
essential. Staff in public sector prisons receive education and training on safe systems
of work, universal precautions, hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipment
in relation to dealing with body fluids at work. Use of blood spillage kits are used
by trained individuals only.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Occupational health (OH)
intervention in HMPPS includes provision of immediate and clinical advice by specialist
nurses following suspected and actual blood to blood exposure incidents for staff
at all levels via a HMPPS 24/7 telephone advice line.</p>
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