Staff protection uppermost in reporting of Swine Flu, says media memo

WITH (at the latest count) 23 suspected cases of Swine Flu being identified in Scotland, news organisations are already having to consider the health and safety implications of how to report the outbreak.

allmediascotland has seen a copy of one press agency memo, outlining what it is doing to protect staff.

Says the memo, issued yesterday to media clients, the advice is that staff avoid face-to-face contact with victims, relatives and also contacts of sufferers.

Continues the memo: “This means doing things by phone if possible, which is what we intend to do.

“Any face-to-face contact – most likely involving photography – will have to be carried out with our staff face masked and gloved. We are having difficulty at the moment sourcing face masks.

“We are going to be working very hard on this story, but I need to be careful not to put staff in serious danger.”