NoBites at Work

Health and Safety in the workplace has come a long way in the past few decades.

Identifying risks, risk management and responsibility for the safety of employees in the workplace has become an industry within itself.

Its easy to get caught up in the obvious safety concerns that we are faced with everyday at work and are communicated out, usually through toolbox meetings or safety briefings and inductions.

Its usually not the obvious risks that cause the accident or health concern but something that may have been overlooked in the sequence of events leading up to an incident or a diagnosis.

Insect protection in the workplace can often be one of those overlooked areas where not wearing a repellent could possibly lead to not only health issues (vector borne diseases from mosquitoes) but also discomfort and annoyance from flies etc which can cause concentration lapses and frustration leading to a higher risk of an accident occurring.

The consensus to deal with these insects for many years has been to go straight for DEET based repellents, and with good reason, they are very effective!

But with more and more research coming to light about DEETs possible neurological effects such as agitation, hypertonia and seizures in humans, it’s beginning to come to people’s attention that it might be doing more harm than good.

DEET -Environmental Pollution.

DEET in not Bio-degradable – The persistence in soils and time to break down in waterways is shown to be over 10 years. Water samples from inland creeks and the coastline waterways have indicated that high levels of DEET (N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) have been found in regular sampling. This is said to be attributed from the high amounts that are washed off the skin into waste and storm water drains after a day’s application.

DEET- Breaks Down Clothing and Equipment.

The melting/corrosive properties that DEET displays on plastic and nylon gear leaves consumers wondering why they would ever put that on their skin.

Outdoor workforces often rely of equipment to perform their job effectively and safely. Poor condition or damaged gear can alter the safety risk of any given job significantly.

It only takes one application of DEET to a plastic or nylon component to start the plasticising reaction. This can become costly to the point where we are beginning to see that a lot of equipment hire companies and also travel companies are stipulating that no DEET is to be used near the hired equipment.

A Better Way

Is there a better way to keep the insects off safely without destroying gear, polluting our waterways and risking neurotoxicity in our bodies? The answer is yes, there is a safer alternative that is medically proven to work just as effectively as DEET and that safer way is NoBites.

NoBites active ingredient is an extract of lemon eucalyptus called PMD, which is the only natural extract recommended by the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) and backed by the (WHO) World Health Organisation to repel disease carrying mosquitoes and will perform at the same level as DEET without the side effects to the body or the environment.

Get in Contact to arrange FREE samples & information about making the switch to NoBites in your workplace!