ABSTRACT
Since the forest products industry is a labor-intensive that should be considered important in terms of occupational accidents and diseases. In the forest products industry sector, there is a high potential for the emergence of negativities in terms of occupational health and safety due to the working environment's mechanical, physical, and environmental factors. It will be possible to prevent occupational accidents and diseases by taking the necessary precautions for occupational health and safety in working environments. This study is aimed to examine the factors affecting risk-taking behavior from the perspective of blue-collar (employee) and white-collar (manager) workers in forest products industry sectors operating in the TR42 Level 2 region. For this purpose, 148 different enterprises with 10 or more employees for the forest products industry in the study region and 10835 employees with the number of employees in these enterprises consisted of the universe of the study. Due to the pandemic (Covid-19) process in 2020, 687 participants from a total of 64 different businesses, 36 and 28 of them from furniture and wood & cork products businesses, respectively, were reached through face-to-face interviews. Questionnaires were used as a data collection tool in the study. As a result, white-collar workers think that blue-collar workers tend to take more risks, more importance is given to security-related issues within the enterprise, and working conditions are better within the enterprise. This study will provide guiding information to understand the factors affecting the risk-taking behavior of both white-collar and blue-collar workers.
ABSTRACT
The personnel involved in the management of COVID-19 affected dead bodies, including law enforcement personnel at the scene of crime, personnel involved in transportation of the dead bodies, forensic practitioners, autopsy pathologists, mortuary personnel, as well as the family members of the dead, etc. are at risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Post-mortem examination is a high-risk procedure, considering that it involves aerosol generating procedures, and exposure to body fluids. The safety of the forensic practitioners and support staff in the management of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 deaths hence, is of extreme importance, especially in the absence of pre-autopsy testing for COVID-19 and due to non-availability of adequate first-hand medical history of the deceased. This communication aims to highlight the current practices and advises certain guidelines in ensuring occupational health and safety in view of these risks in medico-legal death investigations.