The Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) has sent a formal communication to the Director General of the Civil Guard in which it denounces the exposure to "biological risk" that the personnel deployed in Ceuta since July 30 are suffering, and demands the "urgent" implementation of specific protection protocols.
According to the document, registered this Wednesday by the legal secretary of the organization, the units stationed in the autonomous city carry out rescue, identification, and custody tasks that involve "close and prolonged" physical contact with bodily fluids, respiratory secretions, and potentially contaminated objects, as noted by the AUGC in a statement.
The association warns that civil guards are exposed to highly severe pathogens such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, HIV, or meningococcus, in addition to outbreaks of scabies. Regarding this last aspect, AUGC emphasizes that the danger "is not hypothetical," recalling the 24 soldiers of the Army infected in Ceuta and the existence of already confirmed cases among National Police agents.
"The prevention of occupational risks does not consist of reacting when there are already infected individuals; it consists of preventing there being any. Acting when the outbreak is already declared is not prevention; it is counting casualties," they have stated from the association. With this initiative, they also intend to activate the legal procedure so that any illness derived from this situation is recognized as an accident in the line of duty.
Immediate protection measures demanded
In their document, the AUGC demands the carrying out of a specific risk assessment with a concrete implementation timeline, as well as the immediate delivery of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including FFP2 and FFP3 masks, gloves against microorganisms, eye protection, and disposable gowns.
The organization also demands the installation of washing points and separate changing rooms for clean and potentially contaminated clothing, in addition to the periodic disinfection of vehicles, holding cells, and accommodations. Likewise, it demands that the Administration take on the professional washing of uniforms, a task that is currently performed by the agents themselves at their homes, a practice that violates occupational risk prevention regulations and that, according to the association, transfers the risk of contagion to their families.
Among the proposed measures is the formal and free offering of vaccination (Hepatitis A and B, tetanus, triple viral, among others) and the implementation of specific health surveillance with tuberculosis screenings. The AUGC also requests a post-exposure protocol with prophylaxis against HIV, the creation of a registry of exposed personnel to expedite future accident declarations in the line of duty, technical training on the use of PPEs, and the immediate communication of all these shortcomings to the Occupational Risk Commission.
Finally, although the association acknowledges the effort and the "fluid communication" maintained with the Command Headquarters of Ceuta, it insists that these actions "of greater depth" exceed the competencies of the local structure and, therefore, must be authorized directly by the General Directorate.