Information for employers

NAT (National AIDS Trust) has produced a number of resources for employers which are available at www.nat.org.uk. The resources include:

• HIV at Work

• HIV and your Disability Equality Scheme

• You Can’t Always Tell: A Guide to ‘Unseen’ Disabilities for Small Businesses

• HIV and Recruitment: Advice for Employers

Updated versions will be produced to reflect the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

NAT suggests some points of good practice for employers:

• adopting an HIV and AIDS policy or making sure that their current diversity policy deals adequately with HIV-related discrimination

• mentioning commitment to equality and diversity in job advertisements and publications

• providing support and reasonable adjustments for employees with HIV

• informing and educating the workforce about the facts and realities of HIV (e.g. organising training/seminars, circulating materials, providing useful helpline phone numbers if they want to get confidential information about HIV and AIDS)

• contributing to HIV- and AIDS-related initiatives (e.g. World AIDS Day) by donating money, asking employees to wear red ribbons or organising fund-raising events.

Almost all public-sector bodies (for example, local-government authorities and NHS trusts) have a legal duty to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity, including on the grounds of disability. This duty can also be relevant to private businesses - but only when they are contracted to carry out public functions. For more information on Disability Equality Duty and the Single Equality Duty, see the chapter on anti-discrimination legislation and publications from NAT.

Employers may need to ensure that managers and colleagues have accurate information on HIV transmission, and realise how unlikely it is in a work setting. Useful sources of information would include NAT’s HIV at Work pack and NAM’s HIV transmission and testing.

There is generally no risk of contracting HIV by working with someone who is HIV-positive. However, in extremely limited circumstances, occupational HIV transmission may be an issue. A small number of specialised jobs (e.g. tatooists, ear/body piercers) involve an extremely small risk of transmission, but no cases have ever been reported.

The healthcare setting carries a greater risk of occupational exposure to HIV than the general workplace. However, the occupational risk of HIV transmission for healthcare workers, especially those not involved in surgery procedures (i.e. invasive and exposure prone-procedures), is negligible.

In healthcare and other work settings where there is contact with blood and other body fluids, transmission can be avoided by adopting universal infection-control precautions.