ABSTRACT
Objective: to investigate factors associated with the SARS-CoV-2 infection among health professionals from university hospitals. Method: a multicenter, mixed approach study with concomitant incorporated strategy, carried out with 559 professionals in the quantitative stage, and 599 in the qualitative stage. Four data collection instruments were used, applied by means of an electronic form. The quantitative analysis was performed with descriptive and inferential statistics and the qualitative data were processed by means of content analysis. Results: the factors associated with the infection were as follows: performance of the RT-PCR test (p<0.001) and units offering care to COVID-19 patients (p=0.028). Having symptoms increased 5.63 times the prevalence of infection and adhering to social distancing most of the time in private life reduced it by 53.9%. The qualitative data evidenced difficulties faced by the professionals: scarcity and low quality of Personal Protective Equipment, work overload, physical distancing at work, inadequate processes and routines and lack of a mass screening and testing policy. Conclusion: the factors associated with the SARS-CoV-2 infection among health professionals were mostly related to occupational issues.
ABSTRACT
In Australia, rates of suicide and poor mental health among construction workers were high before the COVID-19 pandemic. "Lock downs”, "restrictions”, "social distancing” and legislative changes responding to the pandemic have likely exacerbated the working conditions that foster poor mental health. This study analyses the way in which workplace health and safety (WHS) is regulated in Australia against the backdrop of existing research relating to the development of Australia's WHS laws, and the state of mental health of those working in Australia's construction industry. This study was conducted using a doctrinal research methodology and utilising legal theory. This study assesses the capacity of the Australian WHS regulatory system to protect construction workers' mental health by examining and interpreting key provisions in Australia's WHS laws. It then uses a regulatory theory, responsive regulation, to explain the inconsistency between the capacity of those laws to safeguard mental health and the very poor state of mental health of Australia's construction workers. The conclusion reached is that there is scope to improve current WHS laws to better protect construction workers' mental health. A recommendation is made, that current WHS laws are changed to prescribe minimum standards of worker mental health, and mandate control measures to minimise and/or eliminate psychosocial risks. It is submitted that these changes in the law will contribute to a changed culture in Australia's construction sector, which is supportive of mentally healthy workplaces and workers. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Objective: to describe the tendency of biological exposures among healthcare professionals during the years 2019-2021. Method: a retrospective descriptive epidemiological study with 400 biological accidents among the staff of the Clínico-Malvarrosa Health Department (Valencia) from 2019 to 2021. The information was collected by the Occupational Risk Prevention Service through the REBA and EOLAS databases. The type of variables collected were: type of accident, setting where it occurred, characteristics of the worker involved, safety measures applied, and serological parameters of source and worker. Results: the distribution of accidents per year was n= 132 in 2019 (33%), n= 121 in 2020 (30.25%) and n= 147 in 2021 (36.75%). The professionals who experienced more accidents in all years were nurses, specifically those with <5 years of experience, 25-to-34-year old, and under temporary contract. The services that reported more accidents were Primary Care and Surgery in all these years, particularly the morning shifts. Over 20% of the staff were not wearing gloves at the time of the accident in any of these three years. There was an increase in the use of face masks from 24% in 2019 to 100% in 2021, as well as an increase in facial protection measures from 0% to 7%. Of these accidents, 96% could be recorded without seroconversion cases among workers exposed in any of these years. Conclusions: apparently, the COVID-19 pandemic has not altered the tendency towards accidental biological exposures among healthcare workers. The most significant fluctuations could be due to the reduction in surgical activity during 2020. © 2023 DAE Editorial, Grupo Paradigma. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
We study how robotization, namely the "machine substitution” policy, impacts firms' labour demand in the post pandemic era. Using a unique firm-level data set of online job postings in Dongguan, known as "The World Factory” in China, we find that "machine substitution” policy fosters the funded firms to expand their labour demand. The expansion is mainly driven by the growing demand for manufacturing workers, which offsets the reduced demand for service workers. Also, the expansion can be attributed to an increase in the number of employees listed in job postings rather than an increase in position types. Further analysis suggests that this positive impact is mainly attributable to the productivity effect rather than the restatement effect. Furthermore, there is no evidence of heterogeneity by sector or firm size but the effect of the policy varies by regional epidemic severity. Our results not only reveal the labour demand in the Covid-19 but also provide prominent implications for occupational security and steady economic growth. © 2023 Elsevier Inc.
ABSTRACT
Covid-19 pandemic has been the cause of the most significant global revolution in recent times. The attack from an invisible enemy had caught the world unprepared since its first reported outbreak from Wuhan, China, in 2019. As a result, challenges arising from that of unimaginable proportions soon followed suit, and the world felt the impact of those challenges on so many levels. Most of the economy's industries had been greatly affected, with the construction industry being one of the hardest hit. Sarawak's construction industry is not spared either, as several construction site clusters resulting from workers' quarters popped up from the circle. The scenario creates awareness of the importance of improving the quality of workers' quarters. The Sarawak State Government, through its Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, had formulated a guideline for Local Authorities on the temporary permit application for workers' quarters' building within construction sites. The response of the permit is studied using a qualitative approach through a case study of workers' quarters within construction sites in the jurisdiction of Kuching City South as the primary research method. The study is mainly based on observation and literature review and discusses the permit implementation response among the construction industry players. The findings from this paper conclude that the implementation of the permit could be observed further to capture a greater level of compliance and accountability to improve the quality of workers' quarters for occupational safety and the general health of labourers. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Oil industry construction is a very high risk from a safety and health perspective. Thousands of workers die while working in onshore oil refineries and pipeline projects worldwide, and despite many advancements in research and technology, fatal injuries are still happening. Construction products involving oil refineries and pipelines always need successful strategies in mitigating health and safety risks. After the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the industry became more conscious of increasing workers' safety on construction sites. The lack of a comprehensive literature review involving raking and prioritization of critical health and safety risk factors is the reason behind conducting a new secondary study. This study aimed to show the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on risk analysis of health and safety issues construction workers face in onshore oil refineries and pipeline construction projects. The SLR methodology involved searching and reviewing the most relevant research papers from the perspective of safety risk factors and proven mitigation techniques. The SLR involves 30 research papers that are of high significance from 2011 to 2022. Fifteen health and safety risk factors are ranked according to arguments from previous studies, with falling from height at the top and scaffolding failure at the lowest position. The successful mitigation techniques are discussed in the existing literature, and the study provides positive theoretical and practical implications for the workers in oil refinery and pipeline construction projects. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Corona Virus (COVID-19) is a virus that is endemic almost all over the world, including Indonesia. COVID-19 was first confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019, in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and then rapidly expanded outside of China. To suppress the Covid-19 case, medical volunteers are needed as the main actors in efforts to handle Covid-19 patients. This makes health care facilities also need to focus on the principles of health worker safety, not only focus on the principles of patient safety. This also makes health care facilities also need to focus on the principles of health worker safety, not only focus on the principles of patient safety. The use of hazmat clothes is one of the efforts to protect health workers when in contact with Covid-19 patients. Hazmat clothes are technically referred to as "encapsulated waterproof protective clothing” which is PPE that must be used for officers from the risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus through airborne droplets and contact with patients and patient body fluids. Although hazmat clothing is an important PPE for health workers to stay protected, the use of hazmat clothing for a long time often makes medical personnel feel uncomfortable when providing services. Based on the problems above, the researchers conducted a study on the heat pipe - thermoelectric hazmat suit cooling vest. This technology can absorb more heat than other methods by simply applying the principle of capillarity to the wicks on the pipe walls. schematic of testing a cooling vest on a hazmat suit. The loading on the thermoelectric is given through the DC - Power supply. The temperature data read by the sensor will be detected by the computer system using the NI 9123 and C-DAQ 9174 modules. The test results can be viewed using the NI LabView 2017 software. The temperature used in this experiment is the result of tests carried out for 30 min. Based on the tests that have been carried out, the heat pipe-based thermoelectric hazmat suit cooling vest has been able to reach the lowest thermoelectric temperature of 24,42 ∘C, which is distributed through heat pipes to body parts. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the dynamics of the workforce and the workplace. Being affected by Covid-19, organizations had to mitigate the risks of workplace safety and their negative effects on the health of employees and society. A safe work environment is a critical factor in limiting the spread of infection and technologies can enable it. This paper describes a case study of 4EM method application for safe workplace modelling. The model is used for the communication and validation among different groups of stakeholders. It is the foundation for the Covid-19 safe workplace platform. The main goal of the spread of platform is to reduce the infection among employees on the workspace. The main sources of information for the platform are sensors, which are used to measure parameters of the working environment, such as CO2 ppm, the number of people in a room, the discipline of masks and the virus concentration levels of wastewater virus concentration. The 4EM (For Enterprise Modelling) diagram contains critical concepts that can allow minimization of infection risk in the workplace, which are entities, processes, business roles, and requirements of the information system. © 2020 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
ABSTRACT
At present, the world has experienced great and serious problems with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and, of course, among the sectors that present the most inconveniences is face-to-face university education;therefore, higher education centers seek teaching methodologies to put students into practice. For this reason, the creation and implementation of the virtual laboratory is an alternative solution to this problem;For this, technical criteria were proposed that were evaluated through weighted factors and the analysis of three alternatives that can contribute to the design of the virtual laboratory was carried out;these are Second life, Unity 3D and Virtual plant, selecting the most appropriate tool that responds to the needs of use. Unity 3D is the tool that best contributes to each of the proposed criteria, obtaining a virtual environment for practical learning of students through a virtual tour of a simulated industrial company for the artisan manufacture of chocolates with the SKETCHUP tool, during their journey through an avatar in the company the student interacts and finds questions based on the actual exposure of the avatar to occupational hazards and the environmental management that must be fulfilled within the company with response options based on knowledge learned in class, thus achieving content feedback and decision-making in the face of physical and environmental occupational risks. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Many employees and employers are negatively affected by the ongoing Coronavirus disease pandemic. Although the infection spread has decreased during the summer 2022, the possibility of being infected still is high. There are plenty of industries that are forced to work onsite, and they must ensure a safe work environment by mitigating related risks and their negative effects on the health of employees and enterprise business continuity. In order to take control over the situation in offices, shops, factories and other working places, it is proposed to develop a Covid-19-safe workplace platform for infection risks monitoring and minimization. The platform is based on a risk model, which can help an employer to follow the rules and create safe work conditions for his employees. Scientific articles, safe work environment requirements and recommendations connected to the Covid-19 infection, its spread and control factors were studied and considered. As a result the risk model that has data about risks, their impact, hazard and mitigation measures was created. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Cyberslacking is conducted by employees who are using their companies' equipment and network for personal purposes instead of working during work hours. Cyberslacking has a significant adverse effect on overall employee productivity., however, recently, due to COVID19 move to remote working also pose a cybersecurity risk to organizations networks and infrastructure. In this work-in-progress research study, we are developing, validating, and will empirically test a taxonomy to assess an organization's remote workers' risk level of cybersecurity threats. This study includes a three-phased developmental approach in developing the Remote Worker Cyberslacking Security Risk Taxonomy. In collaboration with cybersecurity Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) use the taxonomy to assess organization's remote workers' risk level of cybersecurity threats by using actual system indicators of productivity measures to estimate their cyberslacking along with assessing via organizational information the computer security posture of the remote device being used to access corporate resources. Anticipated results from 125 anonymous employees from one organization will then be assessed on the cybersecurity risk taxonomy where recommendation to the organization's cybersecurity leadership will be provided. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 epidemic has claimed thousands of lives throughout the world and poses an unprecedented threat to public health, food systems, and occupational safety. The economic and societal impacts of the epidemic are severe. Along with maintaining hygiene and wearing masks, it is equally important to reduce contact with people and stay indoors to the extent possible. Keeping this precautionary measure in mind, we have created an IoT system based on a contactless guest approval using Raspberry Pi and Arduino in this article. It uses a camera to watch visits at the front door, and the entire system is automated using email notifications and image recognition. During package deliveries, an automatic package box with UV light sanitation is created to prevent contamination in the house from the outside. The entire device implements the project's various capabilities while avoiding any external contact. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
As SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 (COVID) increasingly spread across the world, nurses in the United States increasingly became at risk for contagion, as well as experiencing higher levels of anxiety and concerns related to safety in the workplace. The rise of COVID and the underlying desire to secure protections for healthcare workers created a higher demand for technology and online workspaces where clinicians can provide sustainable care for patients while also reinforcing the need for staff safety. To streamline the patient discharge process, increase patient safety, comprehension, and satisfaction, while simultaneously preventing undesirable readmission rates, a Virtual Nurse application, via remote monitoring and video capabilities, is expected to take over indirect patient tasks such as patient education, discharge instructions, pain monitoring, telemonitoring, communication with the primary nurse and others. By automation, the Virtual Nurse will alleviate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, thus, freeing up nurses to focus on direct patient care tasks and human-to-human quality interaction. This study strives to investigate the feasibility of the implementation of a Virtual Nurse role in the patient discharge process performed at a large healthcare system. This study will start by presenting a brief literature review focused on the technologies currently being employed in healthcare settings around the U.S. Our study aims to present the methodologies utilized in data acquisition and analysis, as well as population sample characteristics. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Corona Virus (COVID-19) is a virus that is endemic almost all over the world, including Indonesia. COVID-19 was first confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019, in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and then rapidly expanded outside of China. To suppress the Covid-19 case, medical volunteers are needed as the main actors in efforts to handle Covid-19 patients. This makes health care facilities also need to focus on the principles of health worker safety, not only focus on the principles of patient safety. This also makes health care facilities also need to focus on the principles of health worker safety, not only focus on the principles of patient safety. The use of hazmat clothes is one of the efforts to protect health workers when in contact with Covid-19 patients. Hazmat clothes are technically referred to as “encapsulated waterproof protective clothing” which is PPE that must be used for officers from the risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus through airborne droplets and contact with patients and patient body fluids. Although hazmat clothing is an important PPE for health workers to stay protected, the use of hazmat clothing for a long time often makes medical personnel feel uncomfortable when providing services. Based on the problems above, the researchers conducted a study on the heat pipe - thermoelectric hazmat suit cooling vest. This technology can absorb more heat than other methods by simply applying the principle of capillarity to the wicks on the pipe walls. schematic of testing a cooling vest on a hazmat suit. The loading on the thermoelectric is given through the DC - Power supply. The temperature data read by the sensor will be detected by the computer system using the NI 9123 and C-DAQ 9174 modules. The test results can be viewed using the NI LabView 2017 software. The temperature used in this experiment is the result of tests carried out for 30 min. Based on the tests that have been carried out, the heat pipe-based thermoelectric hazmat suit cooling vest has been able to reach the lowest thermoelectric temperature of 24,42 ∘C, which is distributed through heat pipes to body parts. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Psychosocial risks circumscribe a relationship between the individual and the environment where they work, including from physical, social and organizational aspects of work, which, depending on personal capacities, can be potentially harmful to the health of workers. The entire world is currently witnessing one of the greatest health crises of the 21st century, due to a new type of disease-causing virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The study aimed to survey the importance of psychosocial risks in health care professionals, based on evidence collected in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an analytical article whose guiding question was: what sources of psychosocial risks are present in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic? A total of 29 documents were included, coming from different sources of information that enriched the worked sample. The presence of the sources of psychosocial risks in the COVID-19 pandemic was analyzed, according to job content, workload and work pace, work schedule, control, environment and equipment, organizational structure and function, and role in the organization interpersonal relationships, career development, and work-life interface; furthermore, examples of situations that account for the presence of these risks are presented. All sources of psychosocial risks are present during the pandemic, some of their unfortunate harmful consequences have been currently described, and a call is thus made to address the problem.
ABSTRACT
Governments of different countries and healthcare organisations working in various areas face enormous challenges when trying to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and protect employees, their families and communities. Workplaces can be high-risk environments in terms of the virus outbreak and transmission. This paper aims to disclose the ways for workplace safety improvement in dentistry in the context of COVID-19. The authors present the theoretical model of workplace safety improvement with regard to COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures. The expectations, fears and tasks of dental employees at their workplace in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated based on the systematic literature review and the qualitative empirical study conducted in Lithuania. The study disclosed that unmet employee expectations could lead to different kinds of fear;the most common sources of anxiety are linked to a higher risk of getting infected, a lack or misuse of protection measures and inadequately performed work. Occupational risks are closely related to the components of a workplace system. Therefore, it is important to apply a holistic approach to improve workplace safety, enhance work performance and minimise the negative effects on an employee, an organisation, a patient and a society. © 2022 R. Čiutienė et al.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe in the latter half of 2019,throughout 2020 and into 2021. In response,many companies implemented work from home policies,while others stopped operations entirely in an effort to limit the spread throughout their workforce and supporting communities. This containment strategy was not universally viable;long-term shutdowns impacted the economic viability of companies,and some industries were designated as anessential service and thus continued operations. These employers faced the proposition of balancing the needs of the business and the community with a continued responsibility to provide a safe workplace for employees. This paper,and accompanying presentation,will demonstrate how the application of bowtie analysis,a commonly adopted methodology in high hazard industries,can help the risks associated with continued operation in a pandemic to be better understood and managed,thus ensuring the safety of both your personnel and business. Copyright © American Institute of Chemical Engineers. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Auditing is one of the most important stages in evaluating the effectiveness of an Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS), which is also recognized as a Knowledge Management System (KMS). According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the audit process is part of the evaluation element, where the auditor must evaluate the OSH performance. The traditional audit might not be able to be conducted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO) scenario, therefore the remote audit is being viewed as a viable solution to ensuring the audit process continues. The solution could also be utilized beyond the pandemic period as it may become one of the effective method for the audit process. The paper describes how the OSHMS can be remotely audited utilizing Mixed Reality (MR) applications in a design thinking manner. To test the approach, preliminary data was collected in an OSH office. The findings of this paper will aid stakeholders in the relevant context in making investment decisions for digitising their OSH audit process in order to create a future-ready ecosystem. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of promoting peer support to reduce depression, anxiety and stress among migrant construction workers in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach: This longitudinal study drew participants from migrant workers of various nationalities in the construction sector in Singapore. Baseline data pertaining to depression, anxiety and stress was established using the DASS-21 questionnaire, and salient covariates such as demographic factors and work environment factors recorded using suitable questionnaires. Intervention was training of participants on peer support techniques, supplemented by episodic support by trained counsellors. At the end of 6 months, DASS-21 was again deployed to obtain the post-results. Comparison of baseline with post-results data was performed to evaluate effectiveness of the peer support intervention. Findings: Statistically significant reduction was observed in measures of all the three parameters studied, namely, depression, anxiety and stress. A decrease of 3.3 (95% CI:2.3 to 4.3) points in mean depression score, a decrease of 2.6 (95% CI: 1.6 to 3.7) points in mean anxiety score and a decrease of 2.7 (with 95% CI: 1.6 to 4.0) points in mean stress scores on the DASS-21 scale were recorded. Conclusions: Peer support is effective in improving mental health of migrant workers in the construction sector in Singapore. This intervention should be considered among other measures to improve their welfare. Originality/value: This is the first paper that talks about the mental health of migrant workers pre-COVID and hence would be a strong paper for the future comparative studies for pre-and post-COVID periods. This is the first paper that addresses the benefits of peer-support among migrant workers to improve their mental wellbeing. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic forced millions of people worldwide to engage in remote working practices, and several organisations are expected to continue adopting work-from-home even in the post-pandemic scenario. This phenomenon has highlighted the importance of human-technology interaction in enabling telework, but it has also increased awareness about the potential adverse effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on employees’ wellbeing. Even if recent literature has delved into these consequences in terms of technostress, there has been little quantitative analysis within the telework literature. The present study aims to fill this gap by introducing and testing an empirical model grounding on a transactional-based model of stress. We assess the influence of three techno-stressors (i.e., techno-overload, techno-complexity, and techno-invasion), two typologies of individual psychological responses as mediator variables (i.e., affective and cognitive strain), and individuals’ work outcomes (i.e., work engagement and job performance). We collected self-reports through survey research involving a sample of 135 remote workers. Data was analysed using Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that techno-overload positively influences affective strain, techno-invasion positively influences both affective and cognitive strain, while techno-complexity positively influences cognitive strain. Further, we show that cognitive strain negatively affects both work engagement and job performance, while affective strain negatively influences only job performance. Possible stress coping strategies based on the redesign of the working environment and mindfulness practices to inhibit techno-stressors are discussed. Also, we discuss how adaptive systems tracking individual behavioral and cognitive strain can create positive feedback loops to enhance individual wellbeing. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.