Veterinary medicine and animal care workers provide medical, surgical, preventive health or animal care services for a variety of animal species in many different workplace settings. These workers are exposed to biological, chemical, physical, and psychological hazards depending on their workplace setting, species of animals worked with, and type of tasks performed.

In the United States there are more than 455,000 veterinary medicine and animal care workers, including 79,600 veterinarians, 102,000 veterinary technologists and technicians, 83,800 veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, and 190,520 non-farm animal caretakers.

Veterinary medicine and animal care workers include:

• Veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers.
• Zoo and aquarium workers, including animal caretakers and grounds keepers.
• Animal shelter and animal control workers.
• Stable and kennel workers.
• Groomers.
• Animal trainers.

Veterinary medicine and animal care workers include:

• Veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers.
• Zoo and aquarium workers, including animal caretakers and grounds keepers.
• Animal shelter and animal control workers.
• Stable and kennel workers.
• Groomers.
• Animal trainers.

Other information about these workers:

• Many veterinary medical workers are female, including 62% of veterinarians, 95% of veterinary technicians, and 84% of veterinary assistants and laboratory animal workers (BLS 2017, NAVTA 2016).
• Small businesses often employ veterinarians, with up to 80% of veterinarians working in solo or group practices (AVMA 2017).
• Veterinary services ranks 2nd in incidence rates for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses (BLS 2016).

These workers are employed in many industries:

• Veterinary services.
• Zoos and aquariums.
• Nature parks.
• Pet care (except veterinary) services.
• Pet and pet supply stores.

Veterinary work settings vary:

• Veterinary offices, clinics, and hospitals.
• Animal shelters, rescue leagues, and humane societies.
• Kennels, stables, and racetracks.
• Grooming shops and pet stores.
• Farms and ranches.
• Animal facilities such as poultry houses, swine barns, feed lots, and sale barns.
• Zoos, aquariums, and other captive and free-ranging wildlife settings.
• Academic, private, and public clinical and research laboratories.
• Slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants.
• Disaster and emergency response shelters and facilities.

Work can involve many animal species:

• Pets such as domestic dogs, cats, pocket pets, exotic animals, or fish.
• Farm, ranch, or production agriculture animals such as cattle, swine, sheep, goats, poultry, ratites, horses, or farmed fish.
• Laboratory animals from mice to nonhuman primates.
• Captive and free-ranging wildlife such as amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, or aquatic species.

Work tasks are diverse and variable:

• Facility management and maintenance.
• Routine care and treatment of animals.
• Emergency medical care of animals.
• Medical, surgical, and necropsy procedures.
• Laboratory testing or research.
• Livestock and food inspection.
• Disaster and emergency rescue and response.

Recommendations for Employers

Employers have the responsibility to provide a safe workplace. Effective safety and health programs (also known as injury and illness prevention programs) have been shown to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses and associated costs. Employers should develop a comprehensive written safety and health program that addresses key elements:

• Management leadership.
• Worker participation.
• Hazard identification and assessment.
• Hazard prevention and control.
• Education and training.
• Program evaluation and improvement.
• Communication and coordination for host employers, contractors, and staffing agencies.

Employers of veterinary medicine and animal care workers should:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive written workplace-specific safety and health program.
• Review and update the written safety and health program periodically.
• Document and maintain staff records of training, immunizations, and work-related injuries and illnesses.
• Comply with Federal and State occupational hazard laws.
• Comply with relevant Federal, State, and local laws such as proper veterinary waste management and disposal.
• Inform all workers and volunteers about potential workplace hazards.
• Promote safe work habits including best infection control practices.
• Have a medical surveillance system in place to record and report workplace-related injuries and illnesses.
• Ensure that equipment is maintained and operated safely.

Prevention through Design

One of the best ways to prevent and control workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities is to “design out” or minimize hazards and risks early in the design process. Prevention through design efforts in veterinary facilities and processes can protect workers and animals and be cost-effective.

• Consider safety in the design and construction of animal handling, restraint, housing and other veterinary facilities.
• Consider safety in the design of processes such as animal restraint and anesthetic gas control systems.

NIOSH Prevention through Design

Temple Grandin Livestock Behavior, Design of Facilities, and Humane Slaughter

Hierarchy of Controls

The hierarchy of controls listed below should be followed to most effectively protect veterinary medicine and animal care workers from workplace hazards. Different categories of methods for controlling hazards are listed in general order of effectiveness. However, an individual preventive intervention may be more or less important than suggested by its’ general category. Some examples are provided. Often a combination of engineering and administrative controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) are needed to adequately protect workers from workplace hazards. PPE should be used only when other controls cannot effectively reduce hazardous exposures.

• Elimination: remove the hazard from the workplace
  • e.g., do not admit animals for which the facility is not properly equipped
• Substitution: switch to the use of a less risky hazard
  • e.g., switch to the use of safer chemicals
• Engineering controls: prevent exposure to a hazard or place a barrier between the hazard and the worker
  • e.g., install an effective waste anesthetic gas scavenging system
• Administrative controls: implement changes in work practices and management policies
  • e.g., require rabies pre-exposure vaccination for workers at risk
• PPE: use gloves, safety eyewear, masks, hearing protection, respirators, or other protective equipment
  • e.g., require the use of hearing protection in an animal shelter with barking dogs

Worker Training

Veterinary medicine and animal care workers should be trained about hazards before they begin work. Refresher training should be conducted at regular intervals as required or as needed. Training should include information about the following:

• Potential workplace hazards.
• Occupational risks for pregnant and immunocompromised workers.
• Effective use of controls for reducing workplace exposures.
• Veterinary standard precautions including infection control practices.
• Safe handling, restraint, and care of animals.
• Preventing needlestick, scalpel, and sharps injury.
• Proper care and use of PPE.
• Prompt reporting of work-related injuries and illnesses.
• Emergency and evacuation procedures.

Animal handling and restraint hazards

• Improved livestock handling facility design and restraining facilities can decrease injuries in animals and workers.
• Most bite, scratch, kick, and crush injuries from animals can be prevented by using appropriate restraint and following established procedures.
• Significant injuries and medical emergencies may result if proper procedures are not followed or precautions are not taken.
• Bite and scratch wounds should receive immediate medical evaluation and care due to risks of infection and rabies exposure.

Ergonomic and musculoskeletal hazards

• Strains, sprains, back injuries and other repetitive motion injuries may occur when lifting, restraining, and treating animals
• Extensive computer use may have ergonomic risks

Eye hazards

Eye safety concerns include:

• Penetration wounds from animals, tools, and equipment
• Contamination with dust or other airborne contaminants

Heat stress

• Occupational heat exposure

Ionizing radiation

Risk of exposure during radiography increases with the:

• physical restraint of animals
• use of older or poorly maintained equipment
• inadequate use of protective garments

Laser hazards

• Laser hazards

Motor vehicle hazards

Commuting between farms, facilities, and/or patients increases the risk of motor vehicle accidents.

Needlestick, scalpel and other sharps hazards

• AVMA recommends voluntary compliance with the OSHA bloodborne diseases standard (see NASPHV Veterinary Standard Precautions Compendium)
• Sharps injuries may result in lacerations or other traumatic injuries
• Injury from contaminated sharps may result in illness or death (see biological and chemical hazards)

Noise

Sources of noise above recommended levels in veterinary workplaces may include:

• Barking dogs in kennels and other confined spaces
• Swine when being handled
• Loud machinery and equipment

Outdoor physical hazards

• Cold stress
• Heat stress
• Sun exposure

Respiratory hazards

• Many types of organic and inorganic dust and other airborne contaminants are present in confined animals feeding operations and other animal facilities.
• Dust is generated from feed, bedding, manure, and many other sources.
• Dust can be an irritant or an allergen.
• Chloramine compounds generated in settings such as poultry plants from interactions between chlorinated water and nitrogenous materials are respiratory irritants.
• Cleaners and disinfectants similar to those used in veterinary settings have been associated with asthma in a variety of settings, including human healthcare (see Chemical Safety section).

Slips, trips, and falls

Farms, animal facilities, and veterinary facilities may have slippery or uneven surfaces which put workers at risk of injury from slipping, tripping, or falling.

Veterinary medicine and animal care workers are at risk of exposure to many different chemical hazards including glutaraldehyde and other disinfectants, hazardous drugs, latex, pesticides, and waste anesthetic gases. Exposure to these chemicals may occur by dermal contact (touching the skin) and/or inhalation (being breathed in). Splashes may result in chemical contact with the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes.

• Ammonia
• Carbon Monoxide
• Cleaning Chemicals
• Disinfectants
• Hazardous Drugs
• Hydrogen Sulfide
• Laboratories
• Latex
• Mictotil 300®
• Pesticides
• Phosphine gas
• Waste anesthetic gases
• Waste Disposal

Cleaning Chemicals

• Follow manufacturer’s instructions and all product label precautions.
• Do not mix different cleaning products; some mixtures produce toxic gases.

Hazardous Drugs

Some examples:

• Antineoplastic and other hazardous drug exposures may occur when treating animals for cancer and other diseases.
• Hormones may be a reproductive hazard to female veterinarians.
• Follow product labels for handling restrictions and proper precautions.
• Micotil 300, an injectable macrolide antibiotic, may cause illness or death in people who are exposed through needlestick injuries, skin cuts, puncture wounds, or contact with skin or mucous membranes.
• Chloramphenicol is banned for large animal use due to the risk of aplastic anemia in humans but is still used in small animals.

Micotil 300

Mictotil 300 is a prescription injectable antibiotic used to treat respiratory disease in cattle and sheep.

Pesticides

Pesticide exposures to workers may occur:

• when treating animals for fleas, ticks, or mites.
• when working with animals who have been treated with pesticides.

Phosphine gas

Phosphine gas exposures to workers may occur when treating:

• animals that have ingested rodenticides containing zinc phosphide
• animals that have ingested insecticides containing aluminum phosphide

Waste anesthetic gases

Exposure to nitrous oxide, halothane, isoflurane and other waste anesthetic gases may occur during veterinary dentistry and surgical procedures.

Veterinary medicine and animal care workers are at risk of exposure to zoonoses, infectious diseases that spread from animals to humans. Possible routes of transmission include aerosol, droplet spray, ingestion (oral), direct contact, indirect contact (e.g., fomite), or vector-borne. Sources of exposure include animals, body fluids, contaminated tools, surfaces, or other objects in the environment.

Approximately 60% of the more than 1400 human pathogens are zoonotic. About 75% of emerging pathogens are zoonotic. Zoonoses reported in veterinary personnel include salmonellosis, cryptosporidiosis, plague, sporotrichosis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), psittacosis, dermatophytosis, leptospirosis, and Q fever. Other zoonoses of veterinary concern include rabies and toxoplasmosis.