Local Health Department Engagement with Workplaces During the COVID-19 Pandemic – Examining Barriers of and Facilitators to Outbreak Investigation and Mitigation

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bonney T ; Grant, Michael P.
• Description:
  Objectives: To document local health department (LHD) COVID-19 prevention or mitigation activities at workplaces in the United States and identify facilitators for and barriers to these efforts. Methods: We conducted a web-based, cross-sectional national probability survey of United States LHDs (n = 181 unweighted; n = 2,284 weighted) from January to March 2022, collecting information about worker complaints, surveillance, investigations, relationships and interactions with employers/businesses, and LHD capacity. Results: Overall, 94% LHD respondents reported investigating workplace-linked COVID-19 cases; however, 47% reported insufficient capacity to effectively receive, investigate and respond to COVID-19-related workplace safety complaints. Prior relationships with jurisdiction employers and LHD personnel with formal occupational health and safety (OHS) training were predictors of proactive outreach to prevent COVID-19 spread in workplaces (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001). LHD size predicted OHS personnel and sufficient financial resources to support workplace investigation and mitigation activities (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Differences in LHD capacity to effectively respond to communicable disease spread in workplaces may exacerbate health disparities, especially between rural and urban settings. Improving LHD OHS capacity, especially in smaller jurisdictions, could facilitate effective prevention and mitigation of workplace communicable disease spread. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Public Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: COVID-19 Coronavirus COVID-19 Cross Sectional Studies Disease Prevention Infectious Diseases Occupational Exposure Prevention Public Health Public Health Practice SARS-CoV-2 Workplace Workplace Monitoring

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• ISSN:
  2296-2565
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067315
• Citation:
  Front Public Health 2023 Mar; 11:1116872
• Contact Point Address:
  Tessa Bonney, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
• Email:
  tbonne5@uic.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Frontiers in Public Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a3d60e8621e87be989eccdf1bd9987cb00c1bdd2eb61ca9929a9908d9625120945a2d98c321a7859b16d586fb4ae27c41c52461ce2a1d806fbc955ab010dab4f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231403/cdc_231403_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 227.22 KB ]