Occupational Health Risks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored how workplace environments can amplify both physical and mental health risks. Workers in healthcare, social care, retail, transport and food processing have faced heightened exposure to infectious aerosols and close interpersonal contact. Inadequate access to personal protective equipment, suboptimal ventilation and pressure to attend work despite symptoms have increased infection rates among essential and frontline staff. Beyond the immediate threat of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, prolonged stress, moral injury and burnout have emerged as significant psychosocial hazards. Migrant labourers, low-wage employees and those in precarious contracts have borne a disproportionate burden, with amplified barriers to sick leave, healthcare access and adequate housing. Excess mortality analyses reveal stark occupational gradients, and the emergence of post-acute sequelae further complicates workforce planning. Globally, these findings have informed the prioritisation of vaccination, implementation of rigorous infection control protocols and the development of comprehensive mental health support programmes. Understanding the multifaceted nature of occupational risk is essential for resilient workplace policies and for safeguarding both worker well-being and public health.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Occupational Health Risks During the COVID-19 Pandemic publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in occupational health risks during the covid-19 pandemic across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Presenteeism: Attending work while ill, which can facilitate workplace transmission of infectious diseases.

Job Exposure Matrix (JEM): A structured mapping of job titles to levels of exposure risk and mitigation factors, used to standardise occupational epidemiology analyses.

Excess mortality: The number of deaths above expected baseline levels in a population, often used to infer the indirect impact of pandemics on specific groups.

Frontline worker: An employee whose role requires direct interaction with the public or close contact with others, typically in essential services such as healthcare, transport or food supply.

References

1. Estimating the burden of United States workers exposed to infection or disease: A key factor in containing risk of COVID-19 infection. PLOS ONE (2020).
2. Early Release - Coronavirus Disease among Workers in Food Processing, Food Manufacturing, and Agriculture Workplaces - Volume 27, Number 1—January 2021 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC. Emerging Infectious Diseases (2020).
3. COVID-19 and Essential Workers: A Narrative Review of Health Outcomes and Moral Injury. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2021).
4. COVID-19 and Precarious Employment: Consequences of the Evolving Crisis. International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services (2021).
5. Excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic among Californians 18–65 years of age, by occupational sector and occupation: March through November 2020. PLOS ONE (2021).
6. Occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection: analysis of the UK ONS COVID-19 infection survey. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (2022).
7. Exposure to a SARS-CoV-2 infection at work: development of an international job exposure matrix (COVID-19-JEM). Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health (2021).