Flu in the Workplace

The influenza virus thrives during the winter months when most Canadians are working indoors in close proximity. The virus can spread quickly from person to person. Workers can take the virus home, infecting family members and others.

In workplaces such as hospitals and long term care facilities, an outbreak of influenza can result in severe complications to vulnerable patients and even death. For this reason, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) states "Health Care Workers and their employers have a duty to actively promote, implement and comply with influenza immunization recommendations in order to decrease the risk of infection and complications in the vulnerable population they care for."

Workplace immunization clinics are increasingly popular as a way to help keep employees, and the people with whom they work or live, protected from influenza. Immunization of employees can reduce absenteeism, replacement & overtime costs, interruption of service or product delivery, re-scheduling of important events, extended health costs and many other unwanted disruptions in the workplace.

One such firm that has found success with this strategy is TELUS, Canada's second-largest telecommunications company, headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the early 1990s, the corporate health department recognized influenza as a real problem as more and more employees cited respiratory illness as the reason for absence. In 1996, TELUS (then BC Tel) instituted a company-wide influenza immunization program. They organized education sessions to teach employees about influenza – what it is, how influenza symptoms differ from a cold, and what can be done to reduce the spread of the virus. The immunization program was purely voluntary, and many employees who received flu shots did so for their own health as well as the health of their children in daycare, or elderly relatives at home. Since then, TELUS has been immunizing between 2,000 and 4,000 employees every year. Influenza-related absences have declined from 31% to 23%. "What we found in employees who did get sick, is that they weren't calling in with influenza as a reason," said Sharon Blaney, Director, Corporate Health. "Their colleagues would say, 'You'd better get the flu shot,' so they were getting peer pressure to not stay away from work with that reason."

Dr. J. Bernard Gosevitz, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Rogers Corporate Health Services - Rogers Communications Incorporated, reported "The influenza vaccine program at Rogers Inc, offered to 17,000 employees, has been very successful and has made a major impact on employee health and absenteeism".

Other companies participating in workplace influenza immunization programs have included Mercedes-Benz, Nortel, Costco, and Greyhound. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine, October 1995, reported average savings of US $46.85 per vaccinated employee (article below) [Jump-down link to: The Effectiveness of Vaccination Against Influenza in Healthy, Working Adults below].

There are private and public agencies that can help to organize an on-site clinic, including education, vaccination and monitoring of participants. Contact:

• your local health unit or Ministry of Health
• GSK Biologicals contact information
• sanofi pasteur 1 888 621-1146 or www.sanofipasteur.ca
• Solvay Pharma www.solvaypharma.ca
• Nursing agencies listed in the your phone book.

References
(see also Resources)

BeattheFlu.ca, The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's online resource for setting up a workplace flu shot clinic to keep your employees and their families healthy.
www.beattheflu.ca

Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Strategy to Vaccinate Healthy Working Adults Against Influenza, Dr. Kristin L. Nichol, Archives of Internal Medicine, Volume 161 No. 5, March 12, 2001
archinte.ama-assn.org/content/vol161/issue5/index.dtl

Economic Analysis of Influenza Vaccination and Antiviral Treatment for Healthy Working Adults, Patrick Y. Lee, MD; David B. Matchar, MD; Dennis A. Clements, MD, PhD; Joel Huber, PhD; John D. Hamilton, MD; and Eric D. Peterson, MD, MPH, Annals of Internal Medicine, 20 August 2002 Volume 137 Number 4
www.annals.org/issues/v137n4/abs/200208200-00005.html

Effectiveness and Cost-Benefit of Influenza Vaccination of Healthy Working Adults, A Randomized Controlled Trial, JAMA, October 4, 2000 - Vol 284, No. 13, p.1655-1663
jama.ama-assn.org/content/vol284/issue13/index.dtl

The Effectiveness of Vaccination Against Influenza in Healthy, Working Adults, Nichol KL, Lind A, Margolis KL, et al.N Engl J Med. 1995 Oct 5;333:889-93.
content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/333/14/889

The Impact of Influenza and influenza-like Illness on Productivity and Healthcare Resources Utilization in a Working Population, M. Keech, AJ Scott, PJ Ryan, Occupational Medicine, vol 48, Issue 2 85-90
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db
=PubMed&list_uids=9614766&dopt=Abstract

Influenza Vaccine Efficacy in Young, Healthy Adults, I. Grotto, Y. Mandel, M. S. Green, N. Varsano, M. Gdalevich, I. Ashkenazi, and J. Shemer
view in PDF format (194k)

Randomized, placebo-controlled double blind study on the efficacy of influenza immunization on absenteeism of health care workers, The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 1999;18:779-783 Harri Saxen, MD; Maritti Virtanen, MD
www.pidj.com/pt/re/pidj/abstract.00006454-199909000-
00007.htm;jsessionid=BXU0NhiGPsWVc5KBqFOGQaOfN4BIw
ENeZrMrtqD5JJUZNkXG2nzE!-229066957!-949856032!9001!-1

Sickness absence following a campaign of vaccination against influenza in the workplace, L Leighton, M Williams, D Aubery and SH Parker
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db
=PubMed&list_uids=8776252&dopt=Abstract