ABSTRACT
Introduction Under federal and provincial legislations, employers across Canada have a responsibility to reasonably protect the health and safety of their workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for employers to meet these responsibilities. Employers have been particularly hindered in their efforts to protect their workers due to changing understandings of COVID-19 risks over time. Knowledge of effective public health measures is continuously evolving, with new evidence emerging almost daily. Workplace-led strategies have been designed and implemented to specifically protect workers from exposure to the COVID-19 virus. What we don't know is the unintended long-term consequences these workplace protection measures may be having on workers' health and ability to work safely during the pandemic. Objectives To examine the influences of geographical region, sex and gender, industry, occupation, and perceptions of worker autonomy on the relationship between workplace-led strategies to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19 on measures of worker health safety and productivity. Methods Using a longitudinal survey with a purposive sampling of Newfoundland and Labrador workers at regular intervals over a 12-month period, data were collected across six domains: participant demographics, pandemic-specific workplace policies and practices, working environment (including remote and on-campus work), psychosocial working conditions, physical health and mental health. Results Findings from the baseline, 3 month and 6-month follow-up surveys will be presented. Preliminary results from this work highlight the challenges faced by workers under remote and standard work arrangements and the relationship among these working conditions and impacts on worker health, safety and productivity during the changing nature of work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion The outcomes from our research will provide new knowledge through the collection of stakeholder perspectives about how current workplace strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 may be having unintentional consequences on worker health and safety.