Banking, commerce and industry, secretarial and IT recruiter Contact Recruitment is taking steps to reduce the risks of swine flu spreading among its staff and clients.

Uzair Bawany, Contact Recruitment’s managing director, told a breakfast seminar of clients in London that Contact’s consultants now asked candidates whether they had been in high-risk countries, such as Mexico.

“Most of them have been working, but a few have been travelling and are more vulnerable,” said Bawany. So far no one had admitted to visiting a high-risk area, said Bawany, and consequently nobody had yet been told they wouldn’t be sent to interview with any of Contact’s clients.

Bawany said “most people laughed” when asked where they had been. However, he added: “I take it quite seriously.”

He said Contact Recruitment had stepped up cleaning so that door handles are now cleaned daily. The firm had also acquired its own supply of anti-flu drug Tamiflu.