LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Extract

The summer of 2012 is a thing of the past. We had greater expectations. Fortunately we did not see an outbreak of Q fever, just like in 2011. Tens of thousands of sheep and goats were culled. Even larger numbers were vaccinated. By now the approach of the Q fever epidemic 2007-2010 has been evaluated. There were lots of mistakes. The ombudsman sits back and reflects on them (shortly): ‘I am sorry’. But who is sorry for what, Monique Loo asks in an ‘Opinion’ article in this TBV. If occupational health and safety professionals had been consulted at an early stage of dealing with Q fever, the course of events might well have been very different. Coordinating public health and occupational health and safety is difficult, but necessary. Many lessons can be learned. For instance: this evaluation shows that the biological risks in the workplace have not, or hardly at all, been identified in many occupational health and safety catalogues. So there is a world to be won. …