Growing up we are taught that, outside of desperate self-defence, biting another person is never OK. That biting is cowardly. That biting is disgusting.

Sadly, the simple message never sinks in for some but there is a special kind of revulsion reserved for those who attack by biting as adults.

And if they bite a police officer who is simply doing their job, then the perpetrator can expect even less sympathy.

So it's hard to imagine anyone in the community opposing state government plans to introduce legislation next year that will make testing mandatory for anyone who exposes emergency service workers to the risk of disease.

If frontline workers are put at risk in the course of their duties by a deliberate act of another person, a senior officer from their agency will do a risk assessment to determine if the source of the possible infection should be ordered to undergo mandatory testing.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said that those who put themselves in harm's way every day needed their safety to be prioritised.

And he's right.

Bathurst police officer Alex Christian knows only too well the anguish a person can go through awaiting test results after being bitten at work.

He was bitten while arresting a suspect and then had to wait six months to be given the all-clear because the offender could not be tested.

Under the proposed legislation, the state's duty of care will shift from protecting the rights of the offender to protecting the peace of mind of the victim, and that's exactly how it should be.

It's a simple change but an important one. And one that can't come soon enough.