Viruses, bacteria, fungi, yeast or parasites are living micro-organisms present at the workplace. Those micro-organism are likely to infect the workers who come into contact with them.

In France, 2.6 million people, representing 15% of employees, work in areas where such contamination can occur. These results have been released in June 2006 by DARES, an organisation that falls under the French Ministry of Labour.

The aim of their SUMER survey was to give an overview of the exposure to occupational risks at the workplace in France. Results are released gradually, after completion of analyses. 1,800 occupational doctors were involved in the survey and 50,000 employees were interviewed.

Out of 2.6 million workers, 54% of are exposed to biological risks because they have contact with human biological substances, 8% because they work with animals and 23% because they handle general refuse or food.

1.6 million French workers are at risk because they work in health & social services. 66% of these workers are in fact exposed to these biological risks.

Other activities with high contamination risks are the agriculture sector (33%), the food sector (31%), social and house work (27%) and R&D (24%).