Assessing the Risk of COVID-19 in Workplace Environments using Rapid Risk Analysis

One of the most important measures in the field of occupational health management in work environments is to evaluate the risk of diseases with the aim of providing preventive and reducing solutions to the risk of diseases and disorders in the workplace. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 in high-risk occupational environments using the rapid risk analysis technique.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2020 in three high risk workplaces including 5 banks, 4 post centers and 2 hospitals in the city of Hamadan, Iran. The tools used in this study included a rapid risk analysis technique. In this semi quantitative technique, the risk level is calculated based on three components: disease probability, severity (consequence), and level of health belief.

The findings showed that the risk level of COVID-19 is high for all studied subjects. The lowest and highest risk of COVID-19 in bank employees was estimated at 200 and 300, respectively. The lowest and highest risk of covid-19 in the hospital wards were 50 and 100, respectively. In addition, the low and high risk of covid-19 in the four postal centers were evaluated 50 and 150, respectively (unacceptable risk>40).

The results of this study indicated that the rapid risk analysis technique for COVID-19 can be considered as a suitable technique for screening in the workplace. Due to the high risk of infection in the study workplaces, it is recommended to provide appropriate protection and health measures to prevent the disease in these workplaces.