It shouldn’t happen to a vet

EDITORIALS It shouldn't happen to a vet Veterinary medicine is hazardous and there is evidence that small animal work in particular has a significant injury and disease morbidity. The paper by D'Souza and colleagues investigating the management of health and safety in small animal practices is therefore important and as a veterinary surgeon and practice standards inspector for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Practice Standards Scheme (PSS) I found the research to be significant [1]. While the paper shows the positive effect of standards schemes on health and safety in veterinary practices, the situation has moved on considerably since the survey was conducted in 2002. In 2005, the British Small Animal Veterinary Association and British Veterinary Hospitals Association standards schemes were combined and expanded into the RCVS PSS [2]—a voluntary scheme in which practices are inspected every 4 years. Practices may choose to join this scheme at three different levels—'core standard', 'general practice standard' or 'hospital standard'. Health and safety requirements are included in the core standard, so apply to all practices in the scheme. Over 50% of practice premises are registered with the scheme (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, personal communication) and it now includes equine and farm animal practices, widening the availability of health and safety information to encompass these areas of work. As mentioned in the article, the PSS has been a major driver and source of advice for improvements in health and safety in the profession , and even those practices that decide not to join the scheme can access the relevant information. It is well recognized that there are some areas of health and safety where veterinarians are good at identifying risk. For example practices clearly understand the risks of radiography, and PSS inspectors check that practices are complying with their Radiation Protection Adviser's advice. Veterinary practices are also very conscious of risks of pollution in anaesthesia, and the PSS asks for evidence of either measurement of personal exposure to anaesthetic gases or an annual test certificate for an active scavenging system. However, as noted by the research authors , extraction ventilation is sometimes overlooked and can be a particular problem in recovery wards where animals are still exhaling anaesthetic gases. PSS inspectors find that most practices make a good assessment of the risks of veterinary medicines. In a recent report , Irwin [3] a Health & Safety Executive inspector visiting practices on …