Safety Tidbit 7.14 - COVID-19 and Worker Adaptation

 Safety Tidbit 7.14 – COVID-19 and Worker Adaptation

Reference: The Push for Adaptation- COVID-19 and Worker Health https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ecpe/how-covid-19-changed-worker-safety-and-health

My student wrote this Safety Tidbit, Mrs. Aubrey Ozolins – a Junior in the Safety, Health, and Environmental Applied Sciences Program at the Indiana University of PA, graduating in Spring 2023.

Health and safety in the workplace have always been fundamental issues for organizations. Better occupational safety means that the employees will work better, help to reduce the turnover of employees, and help the employees do their jobs more effectively. With the COVID-19 pandemic, companies had to act quickly to keep their employees safe while trying to prevent the spread and staying optimistic.

With COVID-19, companies have realized that they are flawed for significant health concerns. They were entirely unprepared for life's new "norm" and running their companies. Distancing, masking, and remote working are several examples to help stop the spread. But now that COVID-19 is not a significant concern, how has worker safety changed, and what companies are using to adapt to the new norm. This pandemic has helped introduce the Total Worker Health (TWH) idea.

Total Worker Health helps address the challenges of worker safety, health, and well-being. It measures the worker's experiences, collects data to understand what needs changing, provides ideas on how to modify the working environment, and helps to encourage the relationship of corporate limits to help that the workplace is safe. TWH focuses on the two ideas of protecting and promoting health in the workplace. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it ruined the image of how safe these workplaces were and accelerated addressing these issues. With the use of the TWH practices, companies became more resilient during this time and now have plans for the future in case of another global emergency. 

For the implementation of TWH, a few values will not change and evolve because of COVID-19. In the article titled "An Integrative Total Worker Health Framework for Keeping Workers Safe and Healthy During the COVID-19 Pandemic," the authors gave six critical components of applying a successful TWH:

·      Focus on the working conditions for infection control and supportive environments to increase psychological demands.

·      Allow the employees to participate in identifying the daily challenges and help to create unique solutions.

·      Employ comprehensive and collaborative efforts to increase the efficiencies of the system.

·      Committing as the leaders to support the workers through actions and positive communications.

·      Adhere to legal and ethical standards.

·      Use data to help to guide actions and to evaluate the progress.

With these components, the organizations can address the individual demands that their employees may have. While also allowing the employees to complete their tasks in a safe area and contribute to the feedback to continue to make the changes.

The researchers have found that while it can take several months to implement, TWH practices showed an increase in good health outcomes for the company and brought the Health and Safety departments together in the companies that once separated them. With this new cohesion, the lower the number was of health risks and concerns.

TWH is not just a short-term idea and can be incredibly effective even after the ravages of COVID-19. Even with the threat of this disease gone, worker health and safety will always need to remain at the forefront of companies. It was because of COVID-19 that adapted to this way of thinking necessary to thrive and survive.

I hope this was helpful, and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

 

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.