Where can I get information cards to carry?

redit-card-sized information cards describing the very basic symptoms and causes of leptospirosis were printed in the past by several local organisations, mostly for use by sport cavers, kayakers, etc., and a few large companies such as water utilities made up similar cards for their employees. This has led to a bit of an urban myth that these cards are widely available and that employees ‘have to carry them’. There is certainly no legal requirement to carry such a card (although there is usually a legal duty for an employer to educate their staff as to the hazards and precautions), and at this time there are no suppliers of the information cards which sell to the public in a format we can accept as useful.

The issue of course is one of size – a card small enough to carry in your pocket cannot have enough information printed on it for the card to be ‘education’ for a worker, and general phrases like ‘the disease is spread by rats’ can be entirely wrong depending on the location and environmental conditions (for example in many places the primary infection risk to humans is not the rat, but another wild mammal or livestock species).

An information card would need to describe the true risks to that individual, the precautions required and suggested, including any specific measures or equipment provided by the employer, a full reference of all the potential symptoms and who to contact in the event of suspicion. We can get that down to a single sheet of paper, but not onto a credit card!