Assessing the Risk of COVID-19 in High-risk Personnel of the Police Forces Using Rapid Risk Analysis Technique

Given the rapid spread of COVID-19 disease around the world, determining the risk of disease in the workplace is one of the essential factors to improve management of this infectious disease. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the risk of COVID-19 disease in high-risk personnel of the police forces using rapid risk analysis technique.

This study was a descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional study conducted in Winter 2021 in Tehran. Participants were 474 police officers randomly selected from three different sub-groups including »P« police, »R« police and »A« police (shown as «پ», «ر» and «آ» in Farsi manuscript, respectively). A rapid risk analysis technique was used to collect data. The data collection tool was a questionnaire based on the mentioned technique, which includes three components of disease probability, severity (consequence), and level of health belief. Adjustments and responses were scored based on the Likert scale. Then, the scores obtained from estimating the three components were multiplied and the result represented the final risk index for COVID-19. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24 and using the mentioned technique. In this study, Analysis of Variance and Bonferroni post hoc test with a significance level of 0.05 was used.

The risk index score of more than 95% of »P« police officers and more than 88% of »R« police officers and more than 93% of »A« police officers were above 40(unacceptable). The minimum (4.86) and maximum (890.62) risk index was related to »R« police. Based on univariate analysis of variance, there was no significant difference between the risk of COVID-19 disease in the three occupational groups (F=0.13 and p-value=0.87). Comparing the level of three components effective in estimating the risk index, there was no significant difference between the components of the level of disease probability and level of health belief in the three occupational groups, however, there was a significant difference in the level of severity (consequence) component of all three groups. In addition, 47.2% »P« police, 45.7% »R« police, and 35.5% »A« police group were suspected to be sick.

According to the findings of this study, all three occupational groups were at risk for COVID-19 disease. Therefore, in order to control the COVID-19 epidemic, employers must implement infection control strategies based on accurate and technical assessment of the risk of disease in order to prevent the occurrence of disease and consequently reduce lost working days by performing appropriate, timely, and low-cost control activities.