Occupational health and safety measures in pandemic conditions: COVID-19 practice

OpenAlex İngilizce

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first appeared in China and spread globally in a short time. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Pandemics are a human problem. Due to the risk posed by COVID-19 on human health, all production and service workplaces around the world have slowed down their activities. These developments have caused significant labor and production losses. The most effective and practical way to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus; although there are physical distance, personal hygiene and mask applications, these do not constitute a definitive solution. Governments, organizations, employers and workers are facing important challenges to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and protect safety and health in the workplace. Unsafe workplace conditions and inappropriate working principles lead to significant health risks in the workplace. COVID-19 causes negative effects in all areas where people are present, such as health, social, economic, education, construction, manufacturing, transportation and trade. In this study, protective measures that can be taken are evaluated by reviewing the literature on the negative effects of COVID-19 on human health and therefore on workforce loss. In addition to additional safety measures in the prevention of COVID-19, basic occupational health and safety (OHS) control methods were evaluated in the following order: (1) elimination / substitution, (2) engineering controls, (3) organizational controls, and (4) personal protective equipment (PPE). In addition to the protection of health, due to the effective safety measures, the stress caused by COVID-19 will decrease in people, so comfort in their social lives and productivity in their work lives will be increased. Therefore, governments, employers and workers' organizations have to form a joint organization with universities and health institutions.