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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has exhausted the employees of hospital center and had a negative impact on medical students. AIM: The aims are to show the efforts of Occupational Medicine to provide support for healthcare workers and to increase student's interest in O.M. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Out of the total number of employees of the Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka, which is 3500, 275 of them claim for recognition of COVID-19 occupational diseases in 2022. The 6th-year medical students of the Rijeka Faculty of Medicine, 130 in total and 22 sanitary engineers were surveyed by the quality service regarding their satisfaction with the Occupational Medicine classes. Statsoft Statistica 10 was used to calculate the results. RESULT(S): All HCW are recognized as having COVID-19 as a professional disease. Older age correlated with greater absenteeism. Hospital employees are dissatisfied, tired, they demand work benefits, contraindications for shift work, night work, work in COVID centers, and requesting maternity leave. Many also quit their jobs the hospital management is looking for and hiring new employees, who quickly leave due to difficult working conditions and low incomes. Occupational medicine also has a problem with students. During the pandemic, classes were held online. Interest in classes declined, a small number of students joined the lectures, but all responded to the survey. The answers showed a lack of interest in the Occupational Medicine course. With subsiding of the pandemic, it would be obligatory to continue "live" classes, take students on a tour of industrial facilities, and cancel the failed evaluation of teachers. CONCLUSION(S): Easing of working conditions for HCW and changes in teaching is necessary.Copyright © 2023, Scientific Foundation SPIROSKI. All rights reserved.
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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may result in a severe acute respiratory syndrome that leads to a worldwide pandemic. Despite the increasing understanding of COVID-19 disease, the mortality rate of hospitalized COVID-19 patients remains high. Objective(s): To investigate the risk factors related to the mortality of admitted COVID-19 patients during the peak of the epidemic from August 2021 to October 2021 in Vietnam. Method(s): This is a prospective cohort study performed at the Hospital for Rehabilitation-Professional diseases. The baseline and demographic data, medical history, clinical examination, the laboratory results were recorded for patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed COVID-19. A radiologist and a pulmonologist will read the chest radiographs on admission and calculate the Brixia scores to classify the severity of lung abnormalities. Patients were followed up until beingrecovered or their death. Comparison of clinical and subclinical characteristics between recovery and death groups to find out risk factors related to the death of COVID-19 patients Results: Among 104 admitted COVID-19 patients, men accounted for 42.3%, average age of 61.7 +/- 13.7. The most common symptoms were fever 76.9%, breathlessness 74%, and fatigue 53.8%. The majority (84.6%) of the study population had at least one co-morbidity, including hypertension (53.8%), diabetes (25.9%), gastritis (19.2%), ischemic heart disease (15.4) %), stroke (9.6%) and osteoarthritis (9.6%). The rate of mild and moderate COVID-19 is 13.4%, severe 32.7%, and critical 40.4%. There are 88 inpatients (84.6%) who needed respiratory support. The median hospital stay was 13 days (IQR 10-17.75 days). The rate of intubated patients with mechanical ventilation was 31.7%. The overall mortality rate was 29.8%. Risk factors related to death included Brixia scores > 9, Urea > 7 mmol/L, Ferrtin > 578 ng/ml, Failure to get vaccinated, Age > 60 years, and Low Oxygen SpO2 < 87% (BUFFALO). Conclusion(s): The main result of the study is the independent risk factors related to the death of admitted COVID-19 patients including Brixia scores > 9, Urea > 7 mmol/L, Ferrtin > 578 ng/ml, Failure to get vaccinated, Age > 60 years, and Low Oxygen SpO2 < 87% ((BUFFALO) which suggests that these COVID-19 patients should be closely followed up.Copyright © 2023 Hanha et al.
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Introduction: Occupational Health should aim at the Promotion and Maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of all the employees. A pilot project was taken up due to acute shortages of coal during the COVID Pandemic, on industrial level, mixing of biomass with coal at a ratio of 20:80 respectively was considered as a good raw material. With introduction of biomass, workers were exposed to different organic substances either directly through dermal route or respirable dust with risk of becoming victims to Occupational diseases. Objective(s): The objective of the study is to identify and mitigate occupational health hazard of various nature prevailing at workplace after introduction of new raw materials;to safeguard the workforce from discomfort and occupational illness and to provide healthy working environment at RIL-Hazira. Method(s): Walk through survey was initiated by team of industrial hygienist and medical officer along with the process engineer. Subsequent workplace evaluation was done according to ACGIH screening criteria for respirable dust & VOC monitoring. To measure airborne respirable contaminants, we have considered housekeeping staff, operator, field executive, Boiler operation engineer which were found more likely to be at the risk of airborne contaminant exposure. To identify the concentration of contaminants, personal air sampler (SKC Make) was used for collection of respirable dust samples for different job category of workers. NIOSH 600 method was used for exposure assessment and samples were collected by using PVC filter used at the flow rate of 2.5 lpm. The composition of biomass pellets was received from biomass team & chemical analysis of biomass was done at our laboratory. Occupational Diseases known to be caused by organic agricultural compounds used as fuel were taken into account such as Bagasossis, farmer's lung & other hypersensitivity pneumonias, non-tubercular mycobacterial infections, infections caused by various fungi & bacteria. Prevention & Control measures were taken during the project such as modification of process, local exhaust ventilation, worker education on different diseases, personal hygiene, use of PPE, good housekeeping. Result(s): Through effective Risk assessment, Hazard Identification and measures taken to mitigate Occupational health hazards, no occupational health disease was reported after implementation of the change in process in a total of 55 identified workers. Moving forward these workers will be periodically monitored. The amount of total respirable dust was reduced by approx. 10- 25% at different location of the plant after control measures taken. This project also brought huge monetary benefits to the plant. Leading forward as the pilot project for introduction of biomass was a great success it has been planned to be scaled up to 40% mixture of biomass.
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Assessing long/post-COVID syndrome (PCS) following an infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a multidisciplinary challenge due to the diverse and complex symptoms. Besides discipline-specific evaluation of infection-related organ damage, the main issue is expert objectivity and causality assessment regarding subjective symptoms. The consequences of long/PCS raise questions of insurance rights in all fields of law. In cases of persistent impairment of performance, determining reduction in earning capacity is crucial for those affected. Recognition as an occupational disease (BK no. 3101) is vital for employees in healthcare and welfare sectors, along with occupational accident recognition and assessing the illness's consequences, including the reduction in earning capacity (MdE) in other sectors or work areas. Therefore, expert assessments of illness consequences and differentiation from previous illnesses or damage disposition are necessary in all areas of law, individually based on corresponding organ manifestations in medical fields and interdisciplinarily for complex late sequelae, for instance, by internists with appropriate qualifications for pulmonary or cardiac manifestations and neurologists, psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists for neurological and psychiatric manifestations, etc.
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COVID-19 , Occupational Diseases , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , SARS-CoV-2 , Accidents, Occupational , Post-Acute COVID-19 SyndromeABSTRACT
Objective: Health care workers are at increased risk of infection with SARSCoV-2 at work. We therefore investigated the development of vaccination rates among health care workers in Germany and the proportion of cases with severe COVID-19 progression in an ecological study. Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, Google and the websites of the Robert Koch Institute and the German Medical Journal were searched for relevant publications on vaccination willingness and rates in Germany from January 2021 to September 2022. Furthermore, we evaluated reports on suspected cases of occupational diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2 in a database of the Berufsgenossenschaft für Gesundheitsdienst und Wohlfahrtspflege (BGW) as of August 2022. To estimate the severity of COVID-19, we analysed the proportion of hospitalised cases and cases resulting in compensation payments for injury and death. Results: Although vaccination willingness was low at the beginning of the vaccination campaign, the vaccination rate increased steadily during 2021. Recent surveys show vaccination coverage rates of well over 90%. By August 2022, a total of 280, 926 suspected cases due to COVID-19 had been reported to BGW. The proportion of cases resulting in hospitalisation decreased from 4.3% in 2020 to 0.026% in 2022, and the proportion of deaths also decreased from February 2020 to July 2022. However, the vaccination status of persons insured by BGW is not recorded in these statistics. Conclusions: Although the vaccination status is unknown, BGW data suggest that the severity of COVID-19 cases steadily decreased with increasing vaccination coverage. © 2022 Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: The studies of comparative law are used as a methodology of legal analysis based on the comparison of different applications and interpretations for similar cases, the interest in comparative law lies in that it nourishes and broadens the vision for international understanding, which makes us understand the rationale of the rules in different states, Of our interest is the concept of the Andean citizen and the migratory statute that defines that migrant workers from Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador have additional rights, guarantees and duties to those of their country of birth, these new social rights are those granted since August 11, 2021 by decision 878 of the Andean migratory statute. When analyzing whether the health workers who attended the COVID-19, exposure to occupational biological risk was considered in each of their countries as of occupational origin, since the objective of the community is to standardize and normalize concepts and regulations and thus allow inferring whether they are entitled to the assistance and economic benefits covered to the worker Objective:To compare the legislation issued by the health authorities of the member countries of the Andean Community of Nations on COVID-19, and if this was configured as an Occupational Disease in health workers who attended the Pandemic. Material(s) and Method(s): An exhaustive review was carried out in the official communication channels of the health authorities of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, CAN member countries, filtering the information on how they developed COVID-19 as an Occupational Disease in their internal regulations, identifying guarantees and protections provided by the countries to the health workers who have been in charge of the integral attention of this contingency. Descriptive study that included a search from April to December 2021. Result(s):After the review,COVID-19 was recognized as an Occupational Disease in health workers, in 3 of the 4 Countries, 1 of the Countries determined it as a Public Health problem, likewise it was found that each Country, approaches Occupational Risks differently, translating into the fact that Health Workers of the CAN, did not have guarantees and protections proper to the Occupational Risks system. Conclusion(s): There is a lack of development on the part of all the Countries that make up the CAN, with regard to aligning their regulations on labor risks, in such a way that they guarantee access to the Andean Citizen to enjoy the guarantees provided by social security in accordance with the supra-national regulation, Decision 584 which approves an instrument that establishes the fundamental rules on occupational safety and health, as a basis for the gradual and progressive harmonization of the laws and regulations governing the particular situations of the labor activities developed in each of the Member Countries, which are not fully developed by all the member countries, generating legal insecurity and uncertainty for the migrant worker.Copyright © 2022, Accion Medica S.A.. All rights reserved.
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Occupational diseases are diseases directly induced by work and working conditions. In the Republic of Croatia, according to the procedure set out by law, occupational diseases are reported and recognized by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund and registered and monitored in the Registry of Occupational Diseases kept by the Croatian Institute for Public Health – Department of Occupational Health. Diagnoses are under responsibility of occupational medicine specialists and are carried out according to modern occupational health criteria, which include determining the clinical picture of the disease and the damage caused by the work process. The recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease is extremely important for the worker considering the financial and pension benefits according to the applicable laws and regulations. Most workers who have had COVID-19 as a professional disease do not get the disease recognized as an occupational disease while they are sick. The length of the acute disease is shorter than the process of application and evaluation of occupational disease. However, the recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease may be important for the future. Should any of the complications (e.g. post COVID-19 syndrome) arise in the future, the worker holds their rights under health insurance. The scientific and healthcare community is still in the process of evaluating and recognizing complications of COVID-19 disease and their long-term impact on health and work ability. © 2022, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering. All rights reserved.
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Background: Health sectors can be listed under the high-risk work areas. As we all know, in this COVID 19 pandemic, doctors, nurses, health workers are the front line warriors. If we consider only the nursing personnel here, their tasks alone are prone to occupational hazards. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are most common among the self-reported occupational diseases. In previous studies, a significantly large number of participants reported musculoskeletal symptoms faced at least once. Insufficiency of ergonomic expertise is one of the most important recognizable risk factors as well as the shortage of staff in hospitals. MSDs are caused due to stressful physical work, static work postures, frequent bending, and twisting, lifting, pushing, and pulling of heavy objects, vibrations, localized mechanical pressure, etc. Various studies have shown that the daily chores of nursing personnel put them at high risk of MSDs. Methods : The study areas were different hospitals and nursing homes in West Bengal. Only the female, registered nurses working in different wards are chosen for this study. The study's inclusion criteria were only the female, registered nurses and the absence of any chronic disease in them. The exclusion criteria were the nursing students, nurses having histories of recent or previous major accidents/injuries or chronic diseases. The study population was interviewed on a one-to-one basis by means of a questionnaire based on Modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. Result(s): Among the total study population, 67.5% of subjects reported low back pain (LBP). 22.5% reported upper back, knee, and ankle discomfort. 27.5%, 15%, and 12.5% reported neck, shoulder, and wrist/hand discomfort, respectively. Conclusion(s): The results of this study have revealed that MSDs are a common phenomenon among nursing personnel. LBP is the most familiar among them, 67.5% of subjects have reported the presence of discomfort. Not only LBP, subjects reported neck, shoulder, knee, and upper back discomfort along with ankle and wrist symptoms. In this COVID-19 scenario, their jobs have become more strenuous than usual. It is found that tasks requiring continuous long hours to perform are causing symptoms to appear. Shift rotations, splitting of shifts, using more ergonomically designed tools, knowledge of ergonomic skills are required in this situation to avoid the aggravation of symptoms.
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OBJECTIVES: The aim of the analysis was to determine the probable places of coronavirus transmission in association with the work and compare the situation between 2020 and 2021. METHODS: The work analysed data from the Information System of Infectious Diseases managed by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic in the period from March 2020 - December 2021. RESULTS: 2,483,219 COVID-19 cases were officially confirmed (732,202 during 2020 and 1,338,790 in 2021), from them 140,368 (6%) represented work-related disease, 520,830 cases (21%) work-related contact, and 1,822,021 (73%) out-of-work contact. There were identified 13 occupations with the highest incidence of COVID-19 in the observed period (458,341 cases), in descending order - clerk, machinist, teacher, craftsman, worker/agency worker, driver, sales worker/cashier, warehouse worker/expediter, nurse, manager, food worker, paramedic, and social worker. Comparing 2020 and 2021, there was a difference in the ranking of occupations by incidence of disease. In 2021, the risk of infection acquiring increased for the occupations clerk, machinist, craftsman, worker/agency worker, manager, and food worker, while it decreased for the health professions (nurse, other paramedic, physician) and for social worker; 5,514 cases of COVID-19 were recognized as an occupational disease in 2020 and 2021, from them 5,483 cases (99.4%) in the health and social care economic activity sector. CONCLUSION: The available data show probable exposures to an infectious agent (without proof of specific contact with the source of the infection), of which 27% cases of COVID-19 are related to work (cases of work-related disease and work-related contact represented together the closest relationship to work). Different relevant anti-epidemic measures in the workplace have considerable practical importance for epidemic control. The use of personal protection of the mouth and nose with respirators/muffs is essential to reduce the risk of airborne transmission.
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COVID-19 , Occupational Diseases , COVID-19/epidemiology , Czech Republic/epidemiology , Humans , Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional/prevention & control , Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is considered an occupational disease (OD), when infection occurs at the workplace for health workers (HW). Because of the increased infection risk of these workers, they were deemed to be a priority group when the vaccination campaign started in Germany in December 2020. By December 2021, more than 90% of HW had been vaccinated twice. We studied the number and the time trend concerning the severity of OD claims related to COVID-19. Workers' compensation claims for OD are recorded in a standardized database of the Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare Services (BGW). We analyzed all notifiable COVID-19 related claims filed between 1 March 2020 and 30 September 2022. The proportion of severe cases was estimated by inpatient stays, injury benefit payments, rehabilitation measures, and deaths. The data analysis was descriptive. Due to COVID-19, 317,403 notifiable cases were reported to the BGW. Of these, 200,505 (63.2%) had thus far been recognized as OD. The number of notifiable cases was highest in 2022 and lowest in 2020. In total, 3289 insured individuals were admitted to rehabilitation management. This represented 1.6% of all recognized ODs due to COVID-19 at the BGW. The proportion of cases admitted to rehabilitation management decreased from 4.5% of all recognized ODs in 2020 to 3.2% in 2021 and to 0.1% of all recognized cases in 2022. For inpatient stays, injury benefit payment, and death, a similar trend was observed. Therefore, it might be concluded that the successful vaccination campaign mitigated the negative health effects of COVID-19 on HW. Even with vaccination, severe cases can occur. Therefore, infection prevention at the workplace remains paramount.
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COVID-19 , Occupational Diseases , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Health Personnel , Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , Workplace , Germany/epidemiology , Workers' CompensationABSTRACT
Introduction. The morbidity and mortality of medical workers from COVID – 19 in the process of production activity remains one of the most serious problems of healthcare and, in particular, occupational medicine, as it causes the loss of qualified personnel. Aim. The purpose of the study is to study the peculiarities of morbidity and mortality of employees of medical organizations of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the volume of lump-sum insurance payments due to infection with a coronavirus infection. Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of 46 fatal cases of employees of medical organizations with a confirmed diagnosis of a new coronavirus infection for 2020 and 9 months of 2021 was applied, according to the data of the Rospotrebnadzor Department for the Republic of Bashkortostan. Statistical processing of the material was carried out using the Statistica 10.0 program. Results and discussion. It is shown that the majority of COVID – 19 patients of medical organizations sought medical help late and were admitted to the hospital already in a serious and extremely serious condition. Clinical, laboratory, instrumental studies have revealed a significant severity of the viral-infectious process with hypercoagulation phenomena, impaired function of almost all organs and systems. The cause of death of all employees was a new coronavirus infection COVID – 19 identified by laboratory research methods with severe pulmonary pathology, multiple organ failure. Conclusion. The main features of COVID – 19 in workers of medical organizations that led to death were an extremely severe, progressive course with impaired function of all organs and systems with late access to medical care. The loss of qualified personnel against the backdrop of a shortage of medical workers in the context of the COVID – 19 pandemic requires the development of large-scale medical and preventive measures. sanitary and hygienic measures to prevent infection with infectious agents. © 2022, LLC "IMC" Modern Clinical Medicine. All rights reserved.
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Purpose: To develop a system of automated protection of employees from Covid-19 and other infections, it is implemented through minimizing the risks of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other respiratory viral infections within the enterprise. Design/methodology/approach: Analysis of legal normative documents and scientific and technical literature – to update the scientific problem and formulate the research tasks;methods of system analysis - to build the overall structure of the system and to establish relationships between its elements;simulation methods - to develop the algorithms of functioning and interaction of sensors and actuators of the corresponding subsystems;methods of decision theory and data mining - to develop the training programs and testing the knowledge of employees on epidemic safety. Findings: The system of automated protection of employees from Covid-19 and other infections was developed, which, due to the connection of functionally independent elements according to a certain scheme, allows minimizing the risk of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other respiratory viral infections of employees at the enterprise and increasing their protection from the occurrence of the corresponding infections by implementing a complex of anti-epidemic measures within the system and providing and constant support of the quarantine regime at the enterprise in accordance with WHO recommendations. The developed system was implemented and pilot tested at the industrial enterprise "Odessa Experimental Plant" (Odessa, Ukraine). Based on the results of the development of the system, an application was filed for obtaining a patent for invention No. a 202105894 dated 20.10.2021. Research limitations/implications: The number of system elements can change (increase/decrease) depending on the number of workplaces, as well as areas requiring control. Practical implications: The implementation of the proposed system allows increasing the level of economic sustainability of the enterprise in a complex epidemiological situation of the state or world level by minimizing the risks of enterprise shutdown as a result of the need to limit social and labour connections between employees due to implementation a full range of anti-epidemic measures (in accordance with WHO recommendations) at the enterprise and constant compliance with the established quarantine regime by the employees at enterprise. Originality/value: For the first time, the system of automated protection of employees from Covid-19 and other infections was developed and proposed for use at enterprises, institutions and organizations, which, unlike others, allows the implementation of a full range of appropriate anti-epidemic measures at the enterprise (according to WHO recommendations) and ensure compliance with the established quarantine regime by the employees, due to the constant management of the sanitary-epidemic control modes of admission to the enterprise, disinfection of surfaces, ventilation and air decontamination of industrial premises etc. © 2022 by the authors.
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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the exposure and risk of contracting coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), among healthcare workers (HCWs) at a tertiary hospital early in the pandemic. Materials and Methods: HCWs who presented at an occupational health outpatient clinic for COVID-19 contact tracing or assessment before returning to work between March 30, 2020 and May 31, 2020 were evaluated in this cross-sectional study. The dependent variable used was a COVID-19 diagnosis;the independent variables used were gender, marital status, age, occupation, smoking, presence of chronic disease, symptoms of COVID-19, source of contact, risk classification, and work in a COVID-19 unit. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with the risk of COVID-19 and sources of infection. Results: A total of 603 HCWs presented at the clinic during the study period. The most frequent sources of contact with SARS-CoV-2 were infected co-workers (50.7%) and patients at work (28.2%), followed by household contacts (9.9%). Those who worked in a COVID-19 unit had a 3.55 times greater risk of a COVID-19 diagnosis than other HCWs when adjusted for age, gender, and risk classification. Conclusion: HCWs frequently face exposure to potential infection. Sufficient support for these workers to ensure adequate awareness of and compliance with protocols is of critical importance to protect public health. The results of this study also suggest consideration of the possibility of another source of contact for HCWs included in the no risk category. Regular screening for COVID-19 may be advisable.
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We report the case of a 40-year-old previously lung-healthy male who became infected with SARS-CoV-2 from a named index person while working in charity care. He developed intrinsic bronchial asthma during its course. Discussed are bronchial hyperreactivity following viral infection, occupational accident and occupational disease (number 3101 – German register of occupational diseases). ©2022 Dustri-Verlag Dr. K. Feistle.
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Especially at the beginning of a pandemic, the risks of infection for health professionals but also for other professions are increased. As a result, more than 220,000 insurance claims due to COVID19 have been reported to the statutory accident insurance institutions (DGUV) since the end of December 2021. COVID19 can be recognized as either an accident at work or an occupational disease. To do this, certain conditions relating to diagnosis and occupational exposure must be met. The recognition rate for occupational diseases is approximately twice as high as for accidents at work (60.0 vs. 30.2%). The most commonly affected by occupational SARSCoV2 infections are nurses in the hospital and in inpatient geriatric care. In 2021, educators were also frequently affected. The assessment of the causal relationship usually does not cause any major problems, as the occupations with an increased risk of infection are already well described in epidemiological studies. So far, there is little experience with the assessment of longterm consequences of COVID19. There are two reasons for this. „Rehabilitation before retirement“also applies to the DGUV. Several specific rehabilitation services have been developed for patients with postCOVID symptoms, the effectiveness of which needs to be evaluated. As a further reason for the lack of experience in the assessment, it must be taken into account that naturally the spontaneous course of the longterm consequences of COVID19 cannot yet be known. An assessment is probably best carried out by the discipline in whose area the most pronounced symptoms fall, i.e. in the case of shortness of breath by pulmonologists, in the case of cardiac arrhythmias by cardiologists or in fatigue and concentration disorders by neurologists. If necessary, the assessment should be carried out with the support of the other disciplines. The good news, the likelihood of severe, longterm courses of COVID19 has been significantly reduced by vaccination.
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The article describes the special system that was introduce by National Health Insurance in France for the compensation of COVID-19 as an occupational disease. © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS L'article décrit le dispositif d'exception qui a été mis en place par le régime général de sécurité sociale pour la reconnaissance en maladie professionnelle de la COVID-19. © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS
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A total of 6,043 cases of occupation-related diseases in 5,890 persons (4,641 women and 1,249 men) were reported in the Czech Republic in 2021. Of these, 5,991 were occupational diseases and 52 cases were given the status of “endangerment by an occupational disease”. The incidence of occupational diseases was 128.9 cases per 100,000 health-insured employees in the public sector. Most of the occupational diseases occurred in the Moravian-Silesian region (1,216 cases, i.e., 20.1%) and Olomouc region (1,053 ca-ses, i.e., 17.4%). Most of the recognized cases occurred in the economic sector Q “Health and Social Care” (CZ-NACE Q86-88 – a total of 5,402 cases, i.e., 89.4%). COVID-19 (5,369 cases, i.e., 89.6%) was the most frequently reported occupational disease. Because of the long latency between the disease and the acknowledgment of an occupational disease, most of those cases occurred in 2020, while most cases of 2021 will appear in the statistics in 2022. The carpal tunnel syndrome predominated among the cases reported as “endangerment by an occupational disease” (40 cases, i.e., 76.9%). © 2022, Czech Medical Association J.E. Purkyne. All rights reserved.
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Designated bodies in the European Union are working to establish the connection between COVID-19 disease and the workplace and/or specific branch of economy. It is a complex interdisciplinary matter (from the aspect of health protection and safety at work) involving recognition of COVID-19 as originating at work, in addition to the issues as to whether it is an occupational disease or injury at work, according to the national criteria implemented in individual countries. Furthermore, it needs to be established whether the disease is an occupational disease or an injury at work, irrespective of its origin at work. How different EU countries regard these issues varies from country to country. Both health care workers and workers in other branches of economy are exposed to the risk of contracting SARS CoV-2 virus and developing COVID-19 disease, depending on the category of risk. Of interest here is the professional work and high-risk professions, given the epidemiologic, clinical, medical history and indirect evidence. What is of essence is the exposure to the risk at work. Evidence must be non-ambivalent and far more specific than that proving injury at work or disease related to work (clinical manifestation, lab results, hygiene and other tests, serious complications, specific symptoms, duration of symptoms, their intensity, and other diagnostic procedures). The procedures are complex, for they involve businesses, workers and deadlines, all prescribed by the heterogeneous norms of each state. To enforce definitive standard guidelines, given the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, the EU needs to bring forth a set of uniform common criteria for recognizing COVID-19 as an occupational disease. These criteria are the focus of this paper. © 2022, Institute of Safety Research and Development. All rights reserved.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted traditional education, generating stressors in basic education teachers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to adapt and validate the scale of teaching stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic for Peruvian teachers. It corresponds to a cross-sectional instrumental design study, in which 364 teachers from the Regional Directorate of Education Puno (DRE), Peru, of both sexes (women=224;62%), between 28 and 60 years of age (M = 44, SD = 9.66) participated voluntarily. The instrument that was adapted was the scale of teaching stressors during the pandemic created for Argentine teachers, which was subjected to a process of cultural adaptation, expert judgment and pilot testing. To explore the internal structure, confirmatory factor analysis was applied. As results, all items received a favorable evaluation by the judges (Aiken's V >. 70);the CFA evidenced that the original model reports adequate fit indices (chi 2 = 613.911;df = 199, p = .000;CFI = .964;TLI = .958;RMSEA = .076 and SRMR < .05), and reliability was acceptable for all factors (omega > .75). In conclusion, the ED-Cov19 reports evidence of content-based validity, internal structure and reliability;therefore, it can be applied in research to assess teaching stressors in Peruvian basic education teachers.