Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia.
Research Institute for Business and Social Processes, Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas Alley 115, LV-4601 Rezekne, Latvia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 May 13;18(10):5188. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18105188.
Several individual factors like older age and chronic diseases have been linked with more severe symptoms often leading to hospitalization and higher mortality from COVID-19. Part of adults with such factors is still active in the workforce. The objective of the study was to identify measures taken by the employer to protect them and to investigate reasons for low protection of vulnerable workers during the 1st wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Answers from 1000 workers collected via web-survey and results from 10 focus group discussions were analyzed. Only 31.5% of respondents mentioned that their employer had identified existing vulnerable groups and offered specific measures to protect them. Moving vulnerable workers away from the workplace was the most frequent measure (e.g., transfer to the back-office without contact with clients, telework, paid vacations, paid downtime). Most employers do not see elderly workers and workers with chronic diseases as risk groups, thus are not specifically protecting them. Instead, several employers have included workers critical for business continuity in their risk group. Others had not taken measures because of the lack of information due to general data protection regulation. Poor communication and lack of interest of employers to ask their workers if they need special protection is the topic to be addressed at the national level.
一些个体因素，如年龄较大和患有慢性疾病，与更严重的症状有关，这些症状往往导致 COVID-19 住院和死亡率更高。具有这些因素的部分成年人仍在工作中活跃。本研究的目的是确定雇主为保护他们而采取的措施，并调查在 COVID-19 大流行的第一波期间对弱势工人保护不足的原因。通过网络调查收集了 1000 名工人的回答，并对 10 个焦点小组讨论的结果进行了分析。只有 31.5%的受访者表示，他们的雇主已经确定了现有的弱势群体，并提供了具体措施来保护他们。将弱势工人调离工作场所是最常见的措施（例如，调往不与客户接触的后台办公室、远程办公、带薪休假、带薪停工）。大多数雇主不认为老年工人和患有慢性疾病的工人是风险群体，因此不会专门保护他们。相反，一些雇主将对业务连续性至关重要的工人纳入其风险群体。其他雇主则因一般数据保护法规导致缺乏信息而未采取措施。沟通不畅和雇主缺乏询问工人是否需要特殊保护的意愿是需要在国家层面解决的问题。
