Safety (Jan 2024)
Elaboration and Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Data in the Frame of Occupational Safety and Health Assessment in Sustainable Engineering Systems
Abstract
Facing the threat of SARS-CoV-2, several countries implemented protective measures to annihilate the waves of the pandemic. Apart from quarantine, social distancing, frequent disinfection, and the use of a face mask, vaccination against COVID-19 soon became available. The measures taken in the workplace to inhibit the spread of the virus were important, as some controversial policies emerged regarding the vaccination status of employees. The “health pass” changed the workplace environment immensely, as in many job sectors vaccination became mandatory. Unvaccinated employees were required to undergo specific COVID-19 tests to access their workplace, while other specialized workers such as health workers were removed from their work altogether. Such measures would be justified if it was certain that vaccinated people cannot transmit the virus, but over the course of years this hypothesis seems to have faded. The main aim of this study is the confirmation (or the non-validation) of this hypothesis and of the specific applied measures through the elaboration and statistical analysis of vaccination data from 35 countries in relation to their daily announced infections over the time frame from the forty-fourth week of 2021 to the fourth week of 2022. This is examined from an occupational safety and health (OSH) perspective (taking into account the three pillars of sustainability) concerning risk management and safety assessment at the workplaces of sustainable engineering systems (SES). The findings imply that this hypothesis is contestable. Therefore, it is doubtful whether workplace segregation measures were socially and economically sustainable. It is deduced that (i) the complete freedom of vaccinated employees was a situation which intensified occupational risk, degraded the safety level at the workplaces of sustainable engineering systems, and increased the OSH risk management difficulties, and, on the other hand, (ii) the financial burden of mandatory unemployment and frequent testing was not justified and economically sustainable for the unvaccinated individuals in the middle of a worldwide economic crisis.
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