Bizarre Death from Animal Skin Anthrax
Two years ago in what was considered at the time to be a bizarre anomaly Christopher Norris a drum maker from Scotland died from anthrax found in the animal skins he was working with that had been imported from Africa.
Over the past 30 years around the world there have only been five cases where drum makers have died from inhaling deadly anthrax spores.
Last week in London a drum maker who had been attending a drum-making workshop contracted the deadly disease. Unfortunately Mr. Fernando Gomez subsequently passed away on Sunday evening from the effects of this fast acting disease.
There are several drum making and repairing companies spread throughout the UK mostly made up of African expatriates. There are also large numbers of people who play African style drums not only for pleasure but also professionally.
Now the health and safety executive is trying to quickly ascertain if these two incidents are a bizarre statistical accident. Or do imported animal skins that are used not only for drum making but also in other manufacturing processes in the UK a danger to employee’s health.
It is very hard for a company to protect itself against such statistically unlikely workplace health threats. But there are a multitude of other problems for employers concerning the health of employees involved with animal products. Companies should endeavour to protect themselves by obtaining the latest health and safety training such as the NEBOSH qualification from Workplace Law Training.
