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High levels of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) have been recorded to date in 2008 in the Republic of Ireland. One hundred and forty-eight VTEC cases were notified up to the end of August 2008 (Figure 1), compared to 70-90 confirmed cases reported in the equivalent time period in 2006 and 2007. Thirty three percent of cases notified in Ireland in 2008 indicated that their usual drinking water supply was a private well.

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risk. In many cases the equipment, if issued after certain dates, must comply with agreed European or national standards. These new regulations will operate alongside some of the existing legislation, such as the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, which already require employers to protect employees from such hazardous substances as glutaraldehyde, anaesthetic gases, infected blood, and other body tissues.4 Accident and emergency staff who do not wear suitable personal protective equipment may therefore be in breach of new health and safety legislation, specifically the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations and, generally, the Health and Safety at Work, etc, Act 1974 and the proposed "general provisions" regulations. It is rumoured that when the general provisions regulations are finally agreed they will be renamed the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, which would put the onus of compliance for health and safety on management.

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