Who is essential to the basic functioning of society? Who has to work to enable millions of us to stay safe in our homes during the COVID-19 pandemic? At some level, we all want to think that our jobs are “essential,” and in many senses, they are. They allow us to put food on the table, pay for shelter, and can provide a deep sense of meaning. Of course, not every job fits this description. There are millions of people who work more than 40 hours a week but cannot afford basic necessities, who can’t find work, and who can’t work.
The varying stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders that currently affect at least 316 million Americans (~95%) all have slightly different definitions. Some of the tenets are drawn from the Department of Homeland Security’s definition of critical infrastructure workers. Many of them leave the definition of essential up to businesses themselves, while others have strict classifications for types of businesses allowed to stay open.
Some people are able to work from home, while over 26 million others are unemployed. For those who still have to report to a physical work location–those who work in essential fields who cannot work remotely–what are the risks?
Levels of risk
Not every job entails the same risks. This is as true now as it always has been. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has used a pyramid of 4 categories to describe risks [pdf] faced by different workers:
- Very High Risk: Jobs with high potential exposure to know or suspected sources of COVID-19 during specific procedures. For example, “healthcare and morgue workers performing aerosol-generating procedures.”
- High Risk: Jobs with high potential exposure to know or suspected sources of COVID-19. For example, “healthcare delivery, healthcare support, medical transport, and mortuary workers exposed to known or suspected COVID-19 patients or bodies of people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19 at the time of death.”
- Medium Risk: Jobs that require frequent close contact with people who are not known or suspected of having COVID-19, but may have it. For example, “school workers and high-density retail workers.”
- Lower Risk: Jobs that do not require contact with people who are not known or suspected of having COVID-19. Workers who only have limited contact with other people are in this category.
While working from home, many people have moved from the medium risk category to the lower risk category. My job, academic faculty is one example. While working remotely, I do not have regular non-virtual contact with coworkers and students. I am lucky.
Essential workers are not so lucky. They often work in high-density retail, such as grocery stores, where adequate physical distancing is nearly impossible. How are we protecting essential workers?
What can we do?
The hierarchy of controls for workplace safety is a good place to start. The most effective way to protect workers is to remove the hazard–elimination. People who can work at home without contact with others can remove the hazard of close contact. Substitution means replacing the hazard with something else. So, if your job usually entails a lot of face-to-face meetings, making those meetings virtual is a substitution. Elimination and substitution are great but are immensely difficult in many industries when the hazard is a communicable disease.
Engineering controls isolate people from the hazard–think plastic shields at grocery store counters. These aren’t as effective as removing the need for face-to-face contact but can help reduce the risk of transmission. Increasing ventilation in buildings and using air filters are other examples of engineering controls that reduce risk.
Administrative controls change the way people work, such as having fewer people in the building or always keeping the same people together on shift. At the bottom of the hierarchy, because it is less effective than other methods, or less effective alone, is personal protective equipment. In the case of viral spread, many people beed effective masks, face shields, and gloves, and workers in higher-risk categories need more extensive clothing protection. If you want to follow CDC recommendations for mask-wearing in public to protect you and others, check out their instructions and our recent post about homemade masks and material effectiveness.
Increased psychosocial stress
The controls mentioned above all reduce the risk of workers contracting COVID-19. They do not, however, deal with the additional psychological and social stress that essential workers face each day. Paid sick leave and time off to recover from illness or take care of family members is crucial. Many workers are also facing increased caregiving responsibilities as schools and daycares are closed. Support from employers in these areas will help employees immensely. Employees may be worried about bringing coronavirus home to their families and may need additional support from supervisors and coworkers around these issues, as well as creative problem-solving.
How to tell what employees need? Ask them. Different employees in different organizations may need different help. For example, some employees may need safe childcare, something employers can facilitate in some states. Daily check-ins instead of weekly meetings may be great for some employees but not helpful for those juggling additional childcare. Creating an open space for employees to talk to one another and to managers will allow staff to meet both business and personal needs.
Protecting all workers
Fortunately, there are tons of new resources as businesses and workers adjust to the new normal. These include federal resources, such as guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [pdf], industry-specific resources, and resources from the Total Worker Health Centers of Excellence.
As protests begin and debates about lifting business restrictions intensify, how to protect workers takes on central importance. We need to use the hierarchy of controls to change the organization of work to better protect all workers. Protecting essential workers should be the focus now, but in the near future, we will have to figure out ways to protect many more workers from COVID-19.
Jess Williams