While attending a joint health and safety meeting in our office last week, it became clear to me that we have not been paying enough attention to a very important health risk for our field staff working outdoors. The dreaded Tick has rapidly become a significant health risk to most Canadians, specifically those who spend a great deal of time outside. For the most part, Premier employees have not been highly exposed to ticks given the urban settings in which we do most of our ESA and Contaminated Sites Remediation work. But with a rapidly expanding Ecological Services group, many employees find themselves in a forest, along the edge of a water body or in a field, exactly where the ticks live.
Recently, a few of Premier’s Ecologists have discovered ticks on their clothes and body after coming back from field work. Even after a weekend in the trunk of one employee’s car, a tick was found alive and crawling around in a plastic container used to store personal protective equipment waiting to latch onto the next user of the work boots. While you might say “why is this a big deal” or “who cares”, well if you find yourself out in the woods like our Ecologists often do, it is probably a good thing to prepare yourself for tick exposure so you don’t get sick with Lyme Disease or other infections from tick bites.
So how do we protect ourselves from being bitten by a tick, how do we know if it is actually a tick on our clothes and what should we do if we find one that has latched on? I have attached a few links that should help you with any questions you may have about ticks and Lyme Disease. Please check them out.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/lyme-disease
https://canlyme.com/lyme-prevention/
Fortunately, nobody at Premier Environmental has been bitten by a tick and we want to keep it that way. As part of our corporate health and safety protocol, we are equipping staff who work in the field with bug spray that contains DEET to repel the ticks, a tick removal kit, and educational information to help them identify ticks, as well as knowing how to safely remove ticks and what to do if bitten by one. We strongly encourage other companies like Premier Environmental to do the same so that everyone can enjoy a safe and fun summer.
Happy (almost) Canada Day weekend!
Written by David Wade, P.Geo. , President & Risk Manager
