Ansell Healthcare Corporate Policy Regarding
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

Introduction

World Health Organization (WHO) experts say the next pandemic could infect a large percentage of the world's population of more than 6 billion. International health and agriculture experts at the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) are currently working together to implement measures to help prevent avian influenza from developing into a human pandemic.

In light of the risks of the development of such a pandemic, Ansell has developed a number of recommendations and instituted a number of policies in order to safeguard the security of its employees, continuity of supply and to inform its customers and clients as precisely as possible about Ansell barrier protection products appropriate for contact with the A/H5(N1) virus.

Ansell Healthcare and Avian Influenza

In March 2006 Ansell Healthcare issued recommendations for healthcare professionals wishing to protect themselves against contracting avian influenza, the A/H5(N1) virus, as well as for workers handling potentially contaminated birds or bird products. The company called upon experts from the international AnsellCares program to contribute to elaborating the recommendations, and took care to inform its clients as completely as possible so that they in turn are better able to protect their workers, patients and the public.

The recommendations concerning the types of gloves and equipment to select were sent directly to existing clients, made available on line and supported through a technical help desk available to any purchaser of such equipment. The recommendations follow the World Health organisation’s recommendations for selecting personal protective equipment in each type of situation.

Ansell Healthcare and Product Supply

Ansell Healthcare’s unique role as a supplier of personal protective equipment makes it particularly crucial for the company to continue functioning and supplying customers in a timely manner. In the case of a pandemic of avian influenza, there is likely to be significantly increased demand for gloves, surgical masks and disinfectants, from public authorities, with demand outstripping supply where appropriate product stocks have not been established.

Ansell’s distributor network is organized is such a manner as to be both reactive to clients’ needs, and flexible enough to respond to strong demand for the supply of a complete set of personal protective clothing thus mitigating the risk of a single supply source being quarantined or becoming inaccessible.

Furthermore, a typical Ansell distributor sells a range of protection products and disposables. This holds true both for distributors working in the medical area and those offering industrial personal protective equipment. This distributor network will be uniquely placed to offer purchasing organizations the advice they need and to provide them with the masks, aprons, and shoe covers that should be worn as a complement to protective gloves when in contact with the A/H5(N1) virus.

The majority of the Ansell Healthcare’s production plants produce a variety of glove types, making the switch to producing high priority products (the gloves recommended for the A/H5(N1) virus) relatively straightforward.

Animal Workers

For workers involved in poultry farming, veterinary examination and post-mortem examination, culling of poultry, carcass disposal, cleaning and disinfection of contaminated areas, sampling and activities in diagnostic laboratories, Ansell has provided recommendations for gloves, aprons, sleeves and shoe covers. The list of the most appropriate Ansell equipment to help protect against the A/H5 (N1) virus is available on line and conforms to the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control with regard to personal protective equipment where such risks are involved.1 For industrial workers handling birds or bird products, recommendations are available from Ansell on the following website page:

http://www.anselleurope.com/industrial/index.cfm?pages=technical_centre&lang=EN

Healthcare Providers

For healthcare organizations who wish to review their risks of exposing healthcare personnel and patients to the A/H5(N1) virus, Ansell has provided straightforward precautionary recommendations for protecting against avian influenza. PVC or vinyl gloves are not recommended because of the potentially lower barrier protection they offer. Powdered gloves should be avoided, due to the increased risk of airborne propagation of the virus. Double-gloving can be considered in order to achieve enhanced protection. And finally, procedures surrounding hand hygiene as well as donning and removal should be strictly adhered to in order to ensure maximum security for each operation or patient contact. According to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) publication2, full barrier protection precautions should be used when providing care for suspected or confirmed avian influenza-infected patients with close patient contact and during aerosol-generating procedures.

Ansell Healthcare has also provided lists of recommended gloves divided into four categories: powder free latex examination gloves; powder free synthetic examination gloves; powder free latex surgical gloves; and powder free synthetic surgical gloves. The lists contain the most widespread gloves in use on the market, and are not exhaustive. The company has posted its complete recommendations for selecting the most appropriate gloves on their website:

http://www.anselleurope.com/medical/index.cfm?page=faq&lang=EN#bird_what

Ansell Healthcare and its Employees

The health of the company’s employees is paramount to Ansell if facing an avian influenza pandemic. An integral part of the company’s crisis management guidelines, appropriate travel policies and containment measures are in place since the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in Southeast Asia in 2004. In order to update those plans and obtain the best technical guidance possible, Ansell have enlisted the help of SOS International in crafting our internal response to the potential Avian Flu pandemic. Internal Crisis Preparedness Teams have been formed and are putting in place local protocols to deal with this issue which will include the screening of workers returning from affected travel areas.

As part of its business continuity preparedness plan, the company has implemented steps internally in order to be prepared for eventual business and social disruption which would occur (as well as contingency plans to ensure continued production and supply in situations of potentially high rates of illness and worker absenteeism). A human resources representative per region has been designated as co-ordinator.