Occupational and Environmental Medicine

ObjectivesTo assess variation in vaccination uptake across occupational groups as a potential explanation for variation in risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. DesignWe analysed data from the UK Office of National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey linked to vaccination data from the National Immunisation Management System in England from December 1st 2020 to 11th May 2022. We analysed vaccination uptake and SARS-CoV-2 infection risk by occupational group and assessed whether adjustment for vaccinat...

Decisions on fitness for employment that entails a risk of contracting Covid-19 require an assessment of the workers personal vulnerability should infection occur. Using recently published UK data, we have developed a risk model that provides estimates of personal vulnerability to Covid-19 according to sex, age, ethnicity, and various comorbidities. Vulnerability from each risk factor is quantified in terms of its equivalence to added years of age. Addition of the impact from each risk factor to...

ImportanceOur study helps fill the knowledge gap related to work-related transmission in the emerging coronaviral pandemic. ObjectiveTo demonstrate high-risk occupations for early coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) local transmission. MethodsIn this observational study, we extracted confirmed Covid-19 cases from governmental investigation reports in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. We followed each country/area for 40 days after its first locally transmitted case, a...

BackgroundRespiratory disease among industrial hog operation (IHO) workers is well documented; however, it remains unclear whether specific work activities are more harmful and if personal protective equipment (PPE), as used by workers, can reduce adverse health outcomes. ObjectivesTo assess the relationship between self-reported IHO work activities and PPE use with mucus membrane and respiratory health symptoms in an occupational cohort. MethodsIHO workers (n=103) completed baseline and up to...

IntroductionOccupations vary with respect to workplace factors that influence exposure to COVID-19, such as ventilation, social contacts and protective equipment. Variations between women and men may arise because they have different occupational roles or behavioural responses. We estimate occupational differences in COVID-19 hospital admission and mortality risks by sex. MethodsWe combined individual-level data from 2011 Census with (i) health records and (ii) household-level information from ...

BackgroundCountries across the globe have mobilized their armed forces in response to COVID-19, placing them at increased risk for viral exposure. Humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 among military personnel serve as biomarkers of infection and provide a basis for disease surveillance and recognition of work-related risk factors. MethodsEnzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to measure SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen-specific IgG in serum obtained from N=995 US National Guard soldiers betwee...

BackgroundTime off work after workplace injury varies by compensation system. While often attributed to features of the compensation system, unaccounted regional factors may drive much of the effect. In this study, we compare disability durations by state and territory of residence within a single national workers compensation system. Large differences would indicate that factors other than compensation system settings are responsible for system effects observed in previous studies. MethodsWe a...

BackgroundSARS-CoV-2 infection rates vary by occupation, but the association with work-related characteristics (such as home working, key-worker, or furlough) are not fully understood and may depend on ascertainment approach. We assessed infection risks across work-related characteristics and compared findings using different ascertainment approaches. MethodsParticipants of 14 UK-based longitudinal cohort studies completed surveys before and during the COVID-19 pandemic about their health, work...

ObjectivesTo investigate severe COVID-19 risk by occupational group. MethodsBaseline UK Biobank data (2006-10) for England were linked to SARS-CoV-2 test results from Public Health England (16 March to 26 July 2020). Included participants were employed or self-employed at baseline, alive and aged less than 65 years in 2020. Poisson regression models adjusted sequentially for baseline demographic, socioeconomic, work-related, health, and lifestyle-related risk factors to assess risk ratios (RRs)...

ObjectivesMost earlier studies on occupational risk of Covid-19 covering the entire workforce are based on relatively rare outcomes such as hospital admission and mortality. This study examines the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection by occupational group based upon real-time polymerase chain reaction tests (RT-PCR). MethodsThe cohort includes 2.4 million Danish employees, 20-69 years of age. All data were retrieved from public registries. The sex-specific incidence rate ratios (IRR) of first-occ...

BackgroundOccupational short-latency respiratory disease (SLRD; predominantly asthma, rhinitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and occupational infections) prevalence is difficult to determine but certain occupations may be associated with increased susceptibility. AimsThis study aimed to examine which occupations and industries are currently at high risk for SLRD and determine their respective suspected causal agents based on cases reported by physicians to the Surveillance of Work-related and ...

IntroductionNeedle-stick injuries (NSIs) are defined as the sharp point of a needle puncturing human skin. This article examines the risk and illustrates the burden of NSIs for workers in the healthcare, veterinary and research industries, and includes a sample survey population of workers in workplaces using needles. MethodsFor the review component of this article, PubMed and Google Scholar were queried within the date range of 1998-2022, retrieving 1,437 results. A publicly available sample p...

BackgroundAccidental blood exposures (AEB) are a major occupational hazard for healthcare workers (HCWs), with risk of bloodborne pathogen transmission. While organisational factors are known to influence safety, the specific causal pathways linking management quality to AEB risk remain poorly characterised. ObjectivesTo investigate the causal pathways linking organisational factors, particularly supervisor support, to AEB risk among HCWs through stress and fatigue mediators using Directed Acyc...

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected workers in certain industries and occupations, and the workplace can be a high risk setting for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, we measured SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence and identified work-related risk factors in a population primarily working at industrial livestock operations. MethodsWe used a multiplex salivary SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody assay to determine infection-induced antibody prevalence among 236 adult ([≥]18 ye...

IntroductionThe PROTECT National Core Study was funded by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate routes of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 and variation between settings. MethodsA workshop was organised in Oct 2022.We brought together evidence from five published epidemiological studies that compared risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 mortality by occupation or sector funded by PROTECT relating to three non-overlapping data sets, plus additional unpublished analyses relating...

BackgroundHealthcare workers (HCW) are at increased risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, yet limited information is available on risk factors of infection. MethodsWe pooled data on occupational surveillance of 10,654 HCW who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection in six Italian centers. Information was available on demographics, job title, department of employment, source of exposure, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and COVID-19-related symptoms. We fitted multivariable logistic re...

ObjectivesIdentify workplace risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection, using data collected by a United Kingdom electricity-generating company. MethodsUsing a test-negative design case-control study we estimated the odds ratios (OR) of infection by job category, site, test reason, sex, vaccination status, vulnerability, site outage, and site COVID-19 weekly risk rating, adjusting for age, test date and test type. ResultsFrom an original 80,077 COVID-19 tests, there were 70,646 included in the fin...

ObjectiveTo use a model of occupational stress to quantify and explain the impact of working in critical care during the Covid-19 pandemic on critical care nurses and organisational outcomes. ParticipantsCritical care nurses (CCNs) who worked in the UK NHS between January to November 2021 (n=461). MethodsA self-reported survey measured the components of the Job-Demand Reward model of occupational stress. Job-demands, job-resources, health impairment (mental health (GHQ-12), burnout (MBI), PTSD...

ObjectivesAgricultural injuries are known to be under-reported in existing surveillance systems. OIICS codes are a standardized classification system developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which ensure consistency in reporting and analysis of workplace incidents over time across industry sectors. Our study examines OIICS coded injuries obtained via mining emergency response (Pre-Hospital Care Report) records (PCRs) to improve tracking, documentation, and understanding of agricultural ...

ImportanceNurses work-related stress and sickness absence are high. The consequences of sickness absence are severe for health systems efficiency and productivity. ObjectiveTo measure the association between nurse staffing configurations and sickness absence in hospital ward nursing teams. DesignRetrospective case-control study using hospital routinely collected data SettingFour general acute care hospitals in England Participants3,583,586 shifts worked or missed due to sickness absence by 1...