IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i10p5188-d553978.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reasons for Low Protection of Vulnerable Workers from COVID-19—Results from the Quantitative and Qualitative Study on Working Life in Latvia

Author

Listed:
  • Linda Matisāne

    (Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia)

  • Linda Paegle

    (Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia)

  • Maija Eglīte

    (Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia)

  • Lāsma Akūlova

    (Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia)

  • Asnate Anna Linde

    (Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia)

  • Ivars Vanadziņš

    (Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia)

  • Iveta Mietule

    (Research Institute for Business and Social Processes, Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas Alley 115, LV-4601 Rezekne, Latvia)

  • Jeļena Lonska

    (Research Institute for Business and Social Processes, Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas Alley 115, LV-4601 Rezekne, Latvia)

  • Lienīte Litavniece

    (Research Institute for Business and Social Processes, Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas Alley 115, LV-4601 Rezekne, Latvia)

  • Iluta Arbidāne

    (Research Institute for Business and Social Processes, Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas Alley 115, LV-4601 Rezekne, Latvia)

  • Sarmīte Rozentāle

    (Institute of Social, Economic and Humanities Research, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Cesu Street 4, LV-4201 Valmiera, Latvia)

  • Ieva Grīntāle

    (Institute of Social, Economic and Humanities Research, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Cesu Street 4, LV-4201 Valmiera, Latvia)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda Matisāne & Linda Paegle & Maija Eglīte & Lāsma Akūlova & Asnate Anna Linde & Ivars Vanadziņš & Iveta Mietule & Jeļena Lonska & Lienīte Litavniece & Iluta Arbidāne & Sarmīte Rozentāle & Ieva Grīn, 2021. "Reasons for Low Protection of Vulnerable Workers from COVID-19—Results from the Quantitative and Qualitative Study on Working Life in Latvia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-20, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:10:p:5188-:d:553978
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5188/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5188/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Veruscka Leso & Luca Fontana & Ivo Iavicoli, 2021. "Susceptibility to Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Occupational Settings: The Complex Interplay between Individual and Workplace Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adriana López-Pineda & Irene Carrillo & Aurora Mula & Sofia Guerra-Paiva & Reinhard Strametz & Susanna Tella & Kris Vanhaecht & Massimiliano Panella & Bojana Knezevic & Marius-Ionut Ungureanu & Einav , 2022. "Strategies for the Psychological Support of the Healthcare Workforce during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The ERNST Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Katarzyna Rostek & Michał Wiśniewski & Witold Skomra, 2022. "Analysis and Evaluation of Business Continuity Measures Employed in Critical Infrastructure during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Linda Matisāne & Linda Paegle & Lāsma Akūlova & Ivars Vanadziņš, 2021. "Challenges for Workplace Risk Assessment in Home Offices—Results from a Qualitative Descriptive Study on Working Life during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latvia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-19, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alessandro Messeri & Michela Bonafede & Emma Pietrafesa & Iole Pinto & Francesca de’Donato & Alfonso Crisci & Jason Kai Wei Lee & Alessandro Marinaccio & Miriam Levi & Marco Morabito & on behalf of th, 2021. "A Web Survey to Evaluate the Thermal Stress Associated with Personal Protective Equipment among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Elpidio Maria Garzillo & Arcangelo Cioffi & Angela Carta & Maria Grazia Lourdes Monaco, 2022. "Returning to Work after the COVID-19 Pandemic Earthquake: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-37, April.
    3. Nicola Bartolomeo & Massimo Giotta & Silvio Tafuri & Paolo Trerotoli, 2022. "Impact of Socioeconomic Deprivation on the Local Spread of COVID-19 Cases Mediated by the Effect of Seasons and Restrictive Public Health Measures: A Retrospective Observational Study in Apulia Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Luís Midão & Marta Almada & Joana Carrilho & Rute Sampaio & Elísio Costa, 2022. "Pharmacological Adherence Behavior Changes during COVID-19 Outbreak in a Portugal Patient Cohort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-12, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:10:p:5188-:d:553978. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.