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A Study on the Sanitary Measures implemented in public and private institutions in connection with COVID-19.

SEEDOO YAVNA School of Health Sciences, University of Technology, Mauritius, 2022

INTRODUCTION

Workplaces are associated to be a major threat setting for several infectious diseases including SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks due to transmission between employees. Thus, understanding people’s knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 causes, routes of transmissions, and prevention strategies are crucial . The specific threat to employees and workplaces continues to have a major influence on health and economic matters. Workers must therefore always be protected from any occupational hazards or diseases.

�Statistics on the current situation in Mauritius and worldwide

 As at 20 April 2022, there have been more than 504.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases reported worldwide and over 6.2 million related deaths (WHO, 2022).

 As at 30 May 2022, 173,885 cases of COVID-19 and 766 deaths have been registered in Mauritius. (COVID-19 Data Explorer, 2022)

 As at June 5, 2022, 74.18% of the Mauritian population have been vaccinated against COVID-19, as shown in the figure that follows. (COVID-19 Data Explorer, 2022)

The aim of the research is to focus on the sanitary measures that have been implemented in public and private institutions with the outbreak of COVID-19 as well as to provide recommendations to guide workplaces on how to prevent transmission and protect workers from diseases.

Objectives

1. To identify the sanitary measures adopted in connection with COVID-19 in both the public and private sectors.

2. To differentiate between public and private sectors on compliance of the sanitary measures applied.

3. To assess the perception of the employees on the preventive measures implemented at their workplace.

4. To identify a relationship between employees on perception on whether the employers are taking appropriate measures in the fight against COVID-19.

Significance of the study

The importance of this study is to achieve a high standard of health and safety at the workplace. This will not only contribute to the welfare of the public but also to all the employees and personnel working in the institutions and eventually help in decision making.

METHODOLOGY

COVID-19 IN MAURITIUS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted whereby two separate questionnaires were designed for data collection mainly for quantitative and qualitative data. A sample size of 384 people were chosen to carry out the survey. A specific questionnaire was prepared for this project using the tool “Google Forms”. The information was categorized and processed using SPSS® Statistics for descriptive and inferential data analysis. Shapiro-Wilk test was applied to test for normality of the data. The significance threshold was set at the cutoff p-value of 0.05.

The Kruskal-Wallis H test and chi-square test were used to associate relationships between public and private sectors.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Results revealed that sanitary measures were predominantly being applied in the public sector rather than the private sector. 74.1% respondents from the public sector practice temperature monitoring daily at the entrance of their workplace compared to 59.5% from the private sector.
This was supported by the Kruskal-Wallis H test which showed a significant difference between public and private sectors with the implementation of temperature monitoring at the workplace, χ2(2) = 13.281, p = 0.001.

The percentage for the provision of PPE is higher in the public sector (68.3%) than in the private sector (56.2%). The Kruskal-Wallis H test showed a significant difference in provision of PPE to employees of public and private sectors, χ2 (2) = 7.749, p = 0.021.

The participants agreed that the sanitary measures enforced at their place of work was important (Mean=3.6).

More than 50% of the target population agreed (46.2% agree and 19.2% strongly agree) to the fact that their employers are taking necessary measures to prevent the spreading of the outbreak.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

31% of the respondents working in essential service agreed that they are protected at their workplace from getting COVID-19.

This study investigated the different sanitary measures that have been implemented in the workplace after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The need for stringent measures is therefore, a must in both sectors and the assessment of their effectiveness is required.
It is recommended that the Government enforce strict laws and apply severe sanctions for those that do not comply with the protocols set. As part of the enforcement, continuous monitoring needs to be done by related authorities to ensure compliance.
All levels of employees need to get training to increase their understanding of COVID-19 and other illnesses, since these factors will eventually affect how they behave around safety and how insecure they feel about their jobs.
It is vital to increase the public trust in COVID-19 vaccines. Some institutions must make it compulsory for their employees to be fully vaccinated to be able to continue working. (Chi et al.,2020)
Research must be conducted to statistically assess the efficacy of the phased COVID-19 immunization strategy for future work. It is sometimes difficult to convince individuals to adopt advice if they lack appropriate expertise. (Li et al., 2021)

REFERENCES

Chi, H., Vu, T., Vo-Thanh, T., Nguyen, N. and Van Nguyen, D., 2020. Workplace health and safety training, employees’ risk perceptions, behavioral safety compliance, and perceived job insecurity during COVID-19: Data of Vietnam. Data in Brief, 33, p.106346.�
Li, Y., Li, M., Rice, M., Su, Y. and Yang, C., 2021. Phased Implementation of COVID-19 Vaccination: Rapid Assessment of Policy Adoption, Reach and Effectiveness to Protect the Most Vulnerable in the US. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), p.7665.�
Our World in Data. 2022. COVID-19 Data Explorer. [online] Available at: <https://tinyurl.com/yyahtxu5> [Accessed 31 May 2022].