Free, Online Training Modules for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) on Animal Farms
Protecting Workers from COVID-19 and Other Infections
Animal agriculture workers can be exposed to a range of infectious diseases, from avian influenza to COVID-19. Two-thirds of emerging infectious diseases in humans come from animals. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it essential for animal farms to have effective infection prevention and control programs in place to protect workers as well as animals. Creating and implementing an effective infection prevention and control plan on an animal farm requires coordination from multiple parties, including experts in human occupational health, animal health, industrial hygiene and public health.
The University of Washington's Center for One Health Research, Harborview Medical Center, and the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety Continuing Education Program have assembled a set of learning modules to address this important issue. This is designed as a continuing education course, however due to the urgency of the issue, we are making the content freely available. The training modules are designed to assist the process of creating and implementing infection prevention and control plans on animal farms that will control COVID-19 as well as other infectious diseases important for both human and animal health. Through workplace hazard identification, control and evaluation, and integration of occupational medicine services, such programs can protect the health of both workers and animals on farms.
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Plan
The IPC Plan is a basic plan for controlling transmission of COVID-19 and other infections between humans and between humans and animals on an animal farm.
The downloadable template below is a customizable document that can serve as an exposure prevention and control plan for all infectious diseases that might be present on a given farm, including Covid-19. Any procedures that you have implemented for Covid-19 exposure assessment and control can be incorporated into this plan along with procedures for preventing and controlling other possible zoonotic diseases, such as those that are reviewed in Module 2. The template is designed to be completed by using the template instructions, which walks you through all of the steps required to develop your customized plan.
The template plan should be customized to a farm in keeping with local, state, and federal regulations and it should be adapted to align with a farm biosecurity plan and your overall employee health and safety plan. Wherever you see red text in brackets, you should replace this with information specific to your farm’s plan.
You can use the CDC Agricultural Employer Checklist for COVID-19 and other resources below to guide the implementation of your plan.
FARM INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (IPC) PLAN TEMPLATE
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAN TEMPLATE
AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYER CHECKLIST
Learning Modules: