Health & Safety

Beware of this Common Biological Hazard

Disease-carrying ticks live throughout the contiguous United States, especially in warm and humid climates. Climatic factors impact their growth, so rainy and warm weather in May might indicate a more robust tick season in your area.

Spending time working outdoors could put you and your pets in close contact with ticks. Following tickbite prevention guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can help minimize your risk of exposure to disease-carrying ticks:

• Know where to expect ticks. Ticks live in grassy, brushy, and wooded areas and on animals. Minimize brushing up against vegetation when outdoors

• Pre-treat clothing and gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin

• For exposed skin, use EPA-registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol, or 2-undecanone

• How to dress in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas:

Wear long, light-colored pants and shirts

Tuck shirts into pants and pants into socks

Use tick gaiters to seal off pants and boots

• Check your body, clothing, and gear frequently throughout the day and after being outdoors. Check under arms, in and around ears, inside the belly button, behind knees, groin area, around the waist, feet, hairline, and scalp. Remove an embedded tick as soon as possible. Using a tick key or fine-tipped tweezers, get as close to the tick’s head as possible, pull up slightly, and wait for the tick to detach naturally

In most cases, a tick must be attached for 36 to 48 hours or more before the Lyme disease bacterium can be transmitted

Wash tick bites with soap and water after removing the tick

• Shower soon after being outdoors

• Separate, launder, and dry clothing on high heat immediately

• Consider landscaping tips to reduce tick populations:

Clear tall grasses and brush around buildings

Place a 3-foot-wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas

For more information, contact Anthony Tremblay, Director of Corporate Health & Safety, at atremblay@chacompanies.com

Learn more about tick bite prevention and tick-borne diseases: