Abstract
Nearing the end of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and companies had decided to continue their operations and strive forwards, posing superfluous challenges to occupational health (OH) professionals in keeping workers safe against the continuous threat of infections. The novelty of COVID-19 results in a myriad of medical questions, all of which needs to be answered promptly and reliably through medical research followed by dissemination of answer through publications. Making the knowledge accessible through publications ensures that OH professionals and other relevant parties can collectively develop new policies, determine preventive action, the standard of procedures and care, and administer medical procedures – all of which eases the fight against pandemics in the workplace. Despite its complications and challenges, the author hoped that OH professionals realized the importance of research and publishing in the fight against this pandemic.
Highlights
It started with the fact that critical and essential business sectors need to continue, increasing the risk of COVID-19 exposure to workers in these fields, followed by a giant experiment in continuing life and businesses under the pretense of a "new normal." All of these warrant a significant overhaul in the business management plan; while at the same time shifting occupational health (OH) focus on generating a safe environment that minimizes the spread of infections to ensure the continuation of worker's wellbeing and businesses throughout the pandemic
Many of the questions posed are related to general infection control, the novelty of COVID-19 resulted in a knowledge gap that acts as a further blindfold to OH professionals, resulting in unreliable health policies that affect the lives of countless workers.[3]
To tackle the conundrum above, most OH professionals turn to journals or policies from established health and occupational institutions (WHO - World Health Organization, ILO - International Labour Organization, CDC - Center for Disease Control, etc.); some still relied on mere hearsay, gut feelings, or common practices without proven evidence.[4]
Summary
COVID-19 had impacted workers and business, resulting in an unprecedented change in the workplace, working procedures, and habits in most fields of works.[1,2] It started with the fact that critical and essential business sectors need to continue, increasing the risk of COVID-19 exposure to workers in these fields, followed by a giant experiment in continuing life and businesses under the pretense of a "new normal." All of these warrant a significant overhaul in the business management plan; while at the same time shifting occupational health (OH) focus on generating a safe environment that minimizes the spread of infections to ensure the continuation of worker's wellbeing and businesses throughout the pandemic. Recommendations from ILO, WHO, CDC, or large foreign companies are useful to address major issues surrounding the pandemic, yet details inside the policies could be unrealistic and impractical. Recommendations and policies from these large institutions are reliable because they are made upon sound research conducted (mostly) in the country where it is based (e.g., CDC in the US).
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