Non-COVID-19 uptake of personal protective equipment and rules compliance amongst industrial workers in Kano, Nigeria.

Background: Every workplace has got hazards in many different forms, ranging from sharps, falling objects, chemicals, infections, noise and a lot of other potentially dangerous situations. The occupational safety and health administration mandates employers to protect their employees from such potentially dangerous workplace hazards. Personal protective equipment (PPE) plays an important role in preventing and ensuring health safety amongst industrial workers. This study aimed to determine the use of PPE and rules compliance amongst Industrial Workers in Kano State. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to assess 150 workers selected from the Sharada Industrial Estate, Kano, Nigeria, using a multistage sampling technique. Data were obtained using semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires and analysed using SPSS version 22.0. Results: The response rate was 88.2%, and the mean age of respondents was 28.1 ± 7.4. About 72% were male, 74.7% had secondary education and 16.4% reported ever having a child with a congenital anomaly. Up to 25% reported using PPE always, 62% used PPE occasionally and 12% never used PPE. Factors significantly associated with the use of PPE at bivariate level were: Gender, 'provision of statutory regulation by the management', 'provision of PPE on worksite' and 'provision of training to staff' respectively. However, on multivariable regression analysis, only 'provision of statutory regulation by the management' and 'provision of PPE on worksite' were found to be independent (intrinsic) predictors of the use of PPE. Conclusions: Training alone does not necessarily increase the uptake of PPE amongst industrial workers. There is a need to ensure the availability of PPE at the worksite, as well as statutory regulations by industries.

Additional hygiene and biosafety measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peruvian industry

The high risk of contagion and affectation by COVID-19 in industrial workers made it necessary to rethink the hygiene and biosafety protocols already established, with measures such as distancing from jobs, staggering entry and exit times, controls temperature, the supervised use of Individual Protection Elements (PPE's) and epidemiological surveillance on personnel, among others. In this research, the ERBioCov instrument is proposed and validated, which aims to assess the proportion in the implementation of new and traditional hygiene and biosafety protocols, which was applied in industries in Lima, Peru in two periods of 2020 and 2021. According to the values obtained, 80.5% of hygiene and biosafety measures are currently applied by the industries studied in Peru, in contrast to the 68.9% obtained in the initial months of the pandemic in 2020, difference for which a high statistical significance was verified (p=3,93E-06;t -5.887). Among them, the traditional measures had a greater increase in their application between both periods studied, reaching from 65.6% to 80.8% (p=0;t=-6.544) compared to the additional measures, which remained at the range of 78.4% and 79.6% in 2020 and 2021, respectively (p=0.7442;t=-0.326). Likewise, a high rate of prevention against biological risks was obtained, quantified in 28 measures applied in a range of 93% to 100% of the participating industries.

Measurement of risk and stressors of post-traumatic stress disorder during the first lockdown period of COVID-19 among Industrial workers, Hyderabad, India

Introduction: Post-traumatic stress disorder usually occurs after a traumatic event and the COVID-19 pandemic has affected mental health to a great extent. While there is extensive research being conducted about this aspect among the general population, the most neglected were the industrial workers during the first lockdown period. The aim of the study was to assess the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms using the impact of event scale-revised (IES-R), their main stressors and coping measurements among the industrial workers of Hyderabad. Methods: A telephonic interview schedule was adopted to fill the online questionnaire among industrial workers of age group 20-55 years during the lockdown period. Hundred and seventy-four participants were included in our study and data was collected using standardized tools IES-R and a brief resilient coping scale. Various stressors and also their coping strategies were elucidated. Results: At the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, symptoms were found among 20.6% and at risk of suppressed immune system functioning which is presumed to have its effect for the next 10 years was13.8%. The main stressors of Covid -19 with increased IES-R score were staying away from family members, the influence of social media, Any acquaintance with COVID-19 infected person effects daily life and white-collar group. Coping measurements with a brief resilient coping scale found 17.4% as low resilient copers. Conclusion: This identification of high-risk post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms needs to be addressed earlier to bring up preventive strategies such as counseling services in the occupational health care centers of our industries. © 2022 Occupational Health and Safety Society of Nepal. All right reserved.

Perception of preventing behavior against COVID-19 among Indonesian industrial workers

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is continuing, but companies have been allowed to continue their business with the obligation strictly to apply health protocol. A cross-sectional study aimed to examine the perception of COVID-19 and its prevention behavior based on the health belief model was conducted on 285 industrial workers from eight company types sampled by online survey. The results show that most workers have poor COVID-19 perceptions (54.7%). However, the workers showing good behavior (61.1%) in preventing COVID-19 transmission. Gender (p=0.009), education background (p=0.017) and company types (p=0.001) were related to the COVID-19 perception. In addition, the perceptions related to the behavior in preventing COVID-19 transmission (p=0.000). Except cues to action, all perception components, i.e., perceived susceptibility (p=0.000), seriousness (p=0.005), benefits (p=0.000), barriers (p=0.000), and self-efficacy (p=0.000) related to behavior to prevent COVID-19 transmission. However, the perception components show a weak correlation with preventing behavior (r=0.167-0.234). The information types were related to perceived barriers (p=0.046) and cues to action (p=0.007). Maintain a safe distance (p=0.029), using a face mask (p=0.039), and eat nutritious food (p=0.019) related to information types. The increase of COVID-19 perception is the key to improve industrial workers' behavior to prevent the COVID-19 transmission. © 2022, Intelektual Pustaka Media Utama. All rights reserved.

"Do They See Me as a Virus?": Imagining Asian American Environmental Games

[...]beyond the ecocritical values and ideals that frame and underpin each, these three games raise additional questions and provocations concerning other norms, identities, structures, even feelings that interact or intersect with their obvious and thematic environmental concerns. Night Flyer, Even the Ocean, and Pandemic 2020 and their respective designers theorize their own work, their relationship to their identities and positionalities, and the potential for Asian American games. [...]the games and designers presented below bridge more traditional environmental studies, Asian American ecocriticism, and the recent environmental turn in video games studies. All three games foreground Asian American design, experience, and representation (sometimes directly or indirectly), and offer points of view from bats to power plant workers to viruses that decenter white male bodies, gazes, and masculinist fantasies of control or domination over the natural world. [...]these games and designers gesture toward Asianfuturist possibilities, potential lines of inquiry, resistance, critique, and even hope that center Asian American identities, experience, engagements, and worldbuilding.

Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among industrial workers in the post-vaccination era: a large-scale cross-sectional survey in China.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a huge threat to public health. Mass vaccination is needed to achieve herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Currently, several vaccines are being inoculated on a large-scale. The willingness of COVID-19 vaccination had been well investigated in the pre-vaccination era, but no reported data in the post-vaccination era yet. METHODS: We conducted a large-scale survey among industrial workers during the vaccination campaign in China. Chi-square test and rank sum test were used to identify differences for various intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Univariate analysis and multivariate regression models were utilized to analyze the relationship among demographic factors, related influencing factors and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. RESULTS: A total of 23,940 industrial workers were included, 66.0% were willing to take COVID-19 vaccine, 16.6% were unwilling, and 17.4% were unsure. Participants were more likely to get vaccinated if they were male, aged 45-65, being good educated, married, or being recommended by doctors or nurses. Participants with strong risk perception of COVID-19 infection, strong confidence in COVID-19 vaccine, high attention to COVID-19 vaccine, good health status, bad health habit, and a history of vaccination within three months were also more likely to be vaccinated. CONCLUSIONS: This study calls for more attention and health-related education among industrial workers to improve their acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination.

Characterize health and economic vulnerabilities of workers to control the emergence of COVID-19 in an industrial zone in Vietnam.

The detection of first COVID-19 infected industrial worker in Vietnam on 13 April 2020 prompted timely effort to examine the health problems, behaviors, and health services access of industrial workers to inform effective and appropriate COVID-19 control measures, minimizing the risk of industrial sites becoming the next disease cluster. A search strategy involving search terms corresponding to 'health', 'industrial worker', and 'Vietnam' was applied to search for related papers published in English on Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Duplicates were removed, and relevant data were extracted from the full text of remaining publications. Results showed that underlying health problems, including respiratory system problems, were common among industrial workers. Many suffered occupational diseases and/or work-related injuries. Self-treatment (without medication) was the most used method when having health problems (by 28.2-51% of participants), followed by visiting commune health centers (24%) and self-medication (20.3%). Findings suggest a high risk of disease spreading among industrial workers and of them suffering more severe conditions when infected. Economic vulnerabilities may be the reason for workers' reluctance to taking time off work to attend hospital/clinic. These imply a need for involving local pharmacies, commune health centers, traditional health providers or village health collaborators as local health gatekeepers who are the first point of detecting and reporting of suspected COVID-19 cases, as well as a channel where accurate information regarding COVID-19, protective equipment, and intervention packages can be delivered. Having COVID-19 testing centers at or near industrial sites are also recommended.