Organisation of OSH and Infection Control

Every employer has a duty to organise occupational safety and health (OSH) provision in the workplace. The aim is to ensure employees are protected against work-related health risks by taking suitable OSH measures.

Pandemic planning on a magnetic board
© iStock | BartekSzewczyk

The experience of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic showed that organisations find themselves confronted with particular organisational challenges in the event of a pandemic. These challenges can vary widely depending on the size of the organisation and the tasks carried out by its employees.

Scientists at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA) are investigating the kinds of organisational measures introduced during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. At the same time they are also assessing which of those measures were particularly successful.

Furthermore, BAuA is looking at which of the changes made to workplaces in the course of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have become permanently established and what consequences they have resulted in for employees’ health and the organisation of workplace OSH services.

Apart from carrying out its own analyses, BAuA also collaborates with other research and scientific institutions that are exploring similar issues.

Research Projects

Project numberF 2513 StatusCompleted Project Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 OSH Measures

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2514 StatusCompleted Project Establishments in the COVID 19 crisis (BeCovid Study)

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2516 StatusCompleted Project Stigmatization associated with SARS-CoV-2 in the occupational setting: Summary of the state of knowledge and interview study

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2541 StatusCompleted Project Interventions focusing on work organisation as a part of pandemic management in inpatient care services

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2563 StatusOngoing Project Return to Work after and with Long COVID

To the Project

Research ongoing

Publications

Increases in health problems during the first pandemic wave - An analysis of occupational differences based on the German National Cohort (NAKO)

Written by:  M. Rigó, N. Dragano, M. Formazin, F. Liebers, U. Latza, M. Reuter
Publishing year: 2022

in: Das Gesundheitswesen. "Soziale Gesundheit neu denken: Herausforderungen für Sozialmedizin und medizinische Soziologie in der digitalen Spätmoderne" - Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der DGSMP und der DGMS, Volume 84, Heft 8/9 2022. 

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Authors' response: Occupation and SARS-CoV-2 infection risk among workers during the first pandemic wave in Germany: potential for bias

Written by:  M. Reuter, M. Rigó, M. Formazin, F. Liebers, U. Latza, S. Castell, K.-H. Jöckel, K. H. Greiser, K. B. Michels, G. Krause, S. Albrecht, I. Öztürk, O. Kuss, K. Berger, B. M. J. Lampl, M. Leitzmann, H. Zeeb, K. Romero Starke, S. Schipf, et. al.
Publishing year: 2022

in: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, Volume 48, Ausgabe 7 2022. 

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Occupation and SARS-CoV-2 infection risk among 108 960 workers during the first pandemic wave in Germany

Written by:  M. Reuter, M. Rigó, M. Formazin, F. Liebers, U. Latza, S. Castell, K.-H. Jöckel, K. H. Greiser, K. B. Michels, G. Krause, S. Albrecht, I. Öztürk, O. Kuss, K. Berger, B. M. J. Lampl, M. Leitzmann, H. Zeeb, K. Romero Starke, S. Schipf, et. al.
Publishing year: 2022

in: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, Volume 48, Ausgabe 6 2022. 

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SARS-CoV2 and stigmatization in association with work: A scoping review

Written by:  M. Schubert, A. Seidler, A. Freiberg, O. von dem Knesebeck, J. Ludwig, C. Apfelbacher, T. Hahne, G. Faller
Publishing year: 2020

in: OSF Registries 1. edition.  2020. 

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More about Focus: Infection Control/OSH Interface