Evaluation of Post Covid-19 Pandemic and the Need for Effective Occupational Safety and Health System

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The outbreak of coronavirus pandemic came as a rude shock to many as many  developed and developing countries were not ready for its impact. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be said to be  an illness caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep the globe, infecting millions of people and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and massive economic disruption. Africa has so far been largely spared the kind of impact that has caused chaos in developed nations like the United States, Spain and Italy. As of April 28, there were about 34 915 confirmed cases on the African continent. However, this number is expected to keep climbing as Africa is deemed to be experiencing its early stages of the pandemic with her 1.33 billion people at tremendous risk. Being a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria’s approach to mitigating the impact of the pandemic is of global interest. With a 2020 budget of 10.59 trillion naira and 24.9% of revenues for this budget coming from oil sources and to further expound on the munificent gestures vested on the Nigerian health care, the sector enjoys only 4.14% of the 2020 national budget .Since preventive measures should also be taken in workplaces which are the common areas of use in order to limit the spread of the Coronavirus and to combat the epidemic, working activities have been either completely stopped or restricted by many employers, or the method of working remotely or working from home has been applied by the employers in the private sector. Although it is possible to work remotely or working from home in workplaces with technological infrastructure, occupational health and safety measures must be taken by employers in workplaces where the remote working model cannot be applied due to the nature of their job. In addition, the basis of the regulations for protection of employees is based on the Constitution and the Labor Code No. 4857 and the employers have many responsibilities depending on the managerial authority in workplaces. The most important one of these responsibilities is taking necessary occupational health and safety measures in the workplace within the scope of the employer’s supervision obligation.The measures to be taken by the employer are included in the Code No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety (“Code“). According to Article 4 of the Code, the employer is obliged to ensure the health and safety of the employees. those obligations are listed as follows:

• Taking necessary measures for the safety and health protection of workers, including prevention of occupational risks and providing information and training, as well as providing the necessary organization and means and ensuring that these measures are adjusted taking account of changing circumstances and aiming to improve existing situations,
• Monitoring and checking whether occupational health and safety measures that have been taken in the workplace are followed and ensuring that nonconforming situations are eliminated,
• Carrying out a risk assessment or getting one carried out,
• Taking into consideration the employee’s capabilities as regards health and safety where he entrusts tasks to an employee,
• Taking appropriate measures to ensure that employees other than those who have received adequate information and instructions are denied access to areas where there is life-threatening and special hazard.

Statement of research problem

The post covid-19 pandemic has witnessed peoples growth and understanding in accepting that covid-19 has come to stay .hence, the reason for evaluating post covid-19 pandemic and effective occupational safety and health system. there have been a huge number of  avoidable death because government or hospital management have not put in place necessary occupational safety system, in the sense that there are not enough safety tool for health care workers.

Objectives of the study

The primary objective of this study is to critically evaluate post covid-19 and need for effective occupational safety and health, hence the study seeks to:

1. Evaluate post covid-19 pandemic.

2. Evaluate the effect of covid-19  pandemic on occupational safety and health.

3.Examine how occupational safety and health culture can be be improved on in post covid-19 pandemic.

 Research questions

The following questions guide this study:

1.        What are the  effect of  post  covid-19 pandemic?

2.        What are the factors affecting occupational safety and health in post covid-19?

3.         How has occupational safety and health  improved since post covid-19?

Significance of the study

The study is considered significance for the following reasons.

l  It will give more exposure on the post covid-19 pandemic and the need for effective occupational safety and health.

l  The study will be of help to government ,ministries of health, and  academia

l  It will also serve as a guide to future researchers who may want to further elaborate on this  similar study.

 Scope of the study

This study focuses on evaluating post covid-19 pandemic and the need for effective occupational safety and health system. Further more,it will show how occupational safety and health has improved since post covid-19 pandemic and as such, this study will be delimited to state general hospital akure south in ondo state

Limitations of the study

During the course of this study challenges encountered were that of:

Financial constraint, as  the researcher could not shuttle between his place of settlement and the state general hospital, as much as it wanted to, also, in getting relevant materials  and  in printing them.

Operational definition of terms

Covid-19: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be said to be  an illness caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China.

Occupational safety and health: (OSH) is an interdisciplinary activity concerned with the prevention of occupational risks inherent to each work activity. The main aim is the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of safety and health at work, therefore creating conditions to avoid the occurrence of work accidents and ill health.