Prevent Tick Bites While Working Outdoors

Ticks can be more than just a nuisance to those who work outside – they can cause serious illnesses, including Lyme Disease.  Lyme disease is the most commonly reported tick-borne disease in the United States. In 2005, more than 23,000 cases of Lyme disease were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease is passed to humans by the bite of black-legged ticks (also known as deer ticks in the eastern United States) and western black-legged ticks infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. The Lyme disease bacterium normally lives in mice, squirrels, and other small mammals.  

Workers in the construction, landscaping, forestry, farming, railroad, oil field, park and wildlife management, and utility industries – to name a few – are at increased risk of tick-related and other outdoor hazards. OSHA has resource information on these potential hazards and how to prevent them in the Working Outdoors in Warm Climates fact sheet.

More information is available in the Safety and Health Information Bulletin: Potential for Occupational Exposure to Lyme Disease and at the NIOSH site regarding Lyme Disease.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am and is filed under Safety Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.