Disease

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As with all workplace safety and health efforts, staying safe in the future world of work will be the combined effort of employers taking the right steps to reduce risk and employees doing their part to look out for themselves and each other.

Health care workers who are exposed to needles – for example, those administering a COVID-19 vaccine – are at risk of sharps injuries and exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

When a COVID-19 case occurs in the workplace, the local health department may ask an employer for help. Health departments are responsible for leading case investigations, contact tracing and outbreak investigations.

COVID-19 has changed the way we all work. Some of us never stopped physically going to work, while others have been working remotely since mid-March. No matter where we are, working during a pandemic has added stress to our daily lives.

People who work in hot, humid conditions may not like the idea of wearing a facial covering to decrease their risk of exposure to COVID-19. But it’s necessary.

Whenever muscle damage occurs – whether it’s the result of a work-related incident, heat exposure, overuse or other cause – rhabdomyolysis can follow. Also called “rhabdo,” the condition develops when damaged or dead muscles break down and release cell contents into the blood, according to NIOSH.

Do you work with wet cement, paints or plaster? Maybe adhesives? These are just some of the materials that can irritate your skin because they can contain harsh substances such as hexavalent chromium, calcium hydroxide, toluene, xylene, epoxy resins and lime.

A best practice to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections is routinely cleaning and disinfecting/sanitizing surfaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The next time you fuel up at a gas station, consider this: Most pump handles contain 11,000 times more germs than a toilet seat in a public restroom. And the keypad on the pump? The buttons typically have 15,000 times more germs than a public toilet seat, according to a tip sheet from KeepTruckingSafe.org.