Proposed Occupational Vulnerability Index COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: Vulnerable is someone who can be hurt or receive injury, physically or morally. The work environment appears as one of the dimensions in which social vulnerability develops and social and occupational vulnerability is defined. The literature does not include an assessment of quantified occupational vulnerability as it already exists in the case of social vulnerability. The aim of this paper is to identify and quantify the variables included in the Protocol for the Assessment of Vulnerability to COVID-19 in such a way that the result can be quantified and allows for a predictive effect on the degree of vulnerability. Methodology: The starting point is the design of a protocol proposal that includes 29 variables. Data is collected from a sample of 420 workers, quantifying the results according to each variable, the overall scores for each group of aspects assessed and, finally, the total score that estimates the degree of vulnerability according to established ranges. Results: Variables that have the highest coefficient and, therefore, the greatest weight in the probability of reaching a group of high or medium vulnerability are cardiovascular disease, cancer, and coagulation alteration. The weight of the labour aspects due to inadequate working conditions stands out. Conclusions: The results obtained with this protocol allow us to make a quantified assessment of labour vulnerability to COVID-19

An innovative index for assessing vulnerability of employees of different occupations from the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran

“…Susceptibility concerns the characteristics and factors operating in a community or an individual that allow a hazard to cause an incidence of adverse events (catching COVID-19). Resilience is the ability to adapt, withstand, and handle the hazard caused by a crisis situation or the event of failure ( Acharya and Porwal, 2020 ; Coulombe et al, 2020 ; Godri Pollitt et al, 2020 ; Mills et al, 2020 ; Vicente-Herrero et al, 2020 ; Wisner and Adams, 2002 ). In this study, a panel of 15 experts from the different fields of health sciences, including Environmental Health (six experts), Occupational Health (four experts), Health Education and Promotion (two experts), Health Care Services Management (two experts), Health, Safety, and Environment Management (one expert) was established to determine principles and components of susceptibility and resilience of employees, weight them, and develop the vulnerability index of employees from the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…The initial list of principles and components of employees' susceptibility and resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic was prepared by reviewing the literature and brain storming. A number of 12 principles (75% of the initial list) and 34 components (79% of the initial list) of employees' susceptibility and resilience were extracted from the literature ( Acharya and Porwal, 2020 ; Coggon et al, 2020 ; Jackson et al, 2020 ; Kikuchi et al, 2020 ; Mills et al, 2020 ; Morton, 2020 ; Santos et al, 2020 ; Team and Manderson, 2020 ; Tran et al, 2020 ; Vicente-Herrero et al, 2020 ). The initial list was completed by receiving the opinions of the expert panel.…”

Association Between the “COVID-19 Occupational Vulnerability Index” and COVID-19 Severity and Sequelae Among Hospital Employees

“…The OVI score was developed and published by the AEEMT (Asociación Española de Especialistas de Medicina del Trabajo) working group as a Proposed Protocol for Risk Assessment and Stratification. 13 , 14 This questionnaire tool focuses on three areas: personal health risk factors, work exposures/conditions, and the ability to comply with preventive measures (Table 1 ).…”

“…The aim of the questionnaire is to predict a healthcare workers’ vulnerability to COVID-19 infection complications based on their numeric score or COVID-19 “Occupational Vulnerability Index” (OVI), 13 , 14 and this study retrospectively evaluated the association between the OVI score and the risk of suffering severe COVID-19 disease/sequelae among the staff of a hospital in northern Spain, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

COVID-19: vulnerabilidad estimada en pacientes con factores de riesgo metabólico y cardiovascular

“…Cada uno de estos aspectos es puntuado para obtener un resultado total que se estratifica en grados 11 . Se recogen los datos cuantificando los resultados para cada una de las variables y las puntuaciones globales para cada grupo y se obtiene, finalmente, la calificación total que estima el grado de vulnerabilidad según los rangos establecidos, desde un mínimo de 0 puntos hasta un máximo de 12 puntos (considerado 0-3 puntos, no vulnerable; 4-7 puntos, vulnerabilidad media; y 8-12 puntos, vulnerabilidad alta) 12,13 . El análisis estadístico de los datos se realiza comparando el valor medio de la puntuación de vulnerabilidad según los grupos definidos por las variables recogidas en la encuesta mediante la prueba U de Mann-Whitney (versión no paramétrica de la prueba t de Student-Fisher) para contrastar la diferencia de las medias.…”