Activity-Based Occupational Health Risk Assessment for COVID-19 Infection among Environmental Health Practitioners in Kitwe District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia

Health care workers being the frontline workers are burdened to combat COVID-19 exposing themselves to different health and safety occupational risks as they are participating in pandemic responses. This study aimed to assess the activity-based occupational health risks for COVID-19 infection among environmental health practitioners (EHPs) in Kitwe District, Zambia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was used in this study. The study period was between June 2021 and November 2021. An activity-based observational checklist was used to categorize activities performed by EHPs as lower, medium, high and very high risk. While adherence to infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, and COVID-19 predisposing factors were used to categorize EHPs as low and high risk of COVID-19 infection. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse data. The study results revealed that the majority of the study participants were females representing 58.6%. The mean age of the study participants was 30 years and the majority of them were undergraduates 68.6% and had a work experience of between 1 and 10 years. The study also revealed that 51.1% of EHPS were not vaccinated putting them at a slightly high risk for COVID-19 infection. The majority of EHPs were provided with gloves, face masks, work suits, and safety shoes representing 55.7%. The study also revealed that the majority of EHPs who participated in the study were also at a lower risk of contracting COVID-19 in their line of duty. We strongly recommend that all the EHPS in the Kitwe district should undergo training regarding COVID-19.