Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide, with considerable impacts on both health and safety of workers. COVID-19 emergency highlighted the importance of risk perception surveys and the availability of data on OSH issues. Since 2014, INAIL (Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority) conducted two editions of the periodic survey on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), involving the main OSH actors. Materials and Methods: The 2nd wave of the survey, conducted in 2019 and addressed to representative workers and employers’ samples, provided an important contribution to support the decision-making process of the Italian Government for action-oriented policy in order to determine priority and interventions on the COVID-19 emergency. A secondary analysis of data collected through the survey was useful for the drafting of the technical documents developed to support the release phase of the containment measures after the first lockdown (March-April 2020) for progressive reopening of work activities that had been suspended by regulatory restrictions. Results: Data referred to workers perception on biological risk, commuting, eating habits during working time and health surveillance by occupational physicians were considered. These data were analyzed according to economic sector and geographical areas based on the level of COVID-19 contagion. Conclusions: The epidemiological trend highlighted the importance of work as a substantial factor to consider both when implementing strategies aimed at containing the pandemic and shaping the lockdown mitigation strategy required for sustained economic recovery.
The second Italian cross-sectional survey on Occupational Health and Safety: the secondary analysis to support the COVID-19 pandemic management