Application of an Innovative Model for the Risk Management of COVID-19 in a Multinational Manufacturing Company

Piero Lovreglio, Angela Stufano, Francesco Cagnazzo, Nicola Bartolomeo and Ivo Iavicoli
Additional contact information
Piero Lovreglio: Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Angela Stufano: Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Francesco Cagnazzo: Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Nicola Bartolomeo: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Ivo Iavicoli: Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: The COVID-19 incidence in 61 manufacturing plants in Europe (EU), North America (NA) and Latin-America (LATAM) was compared with the incidence observed in the countries where the plants are located in order to evaluate the application of an innovative model for COVID-19 risk management. Firstly, a network of local and global teams was created, including an external university occupational physician team for scientific support. In July 2020, global prevention guidelines for the homogenous management of the pandemic were applied, replacing different site or regional procedures. A tool for COVID-19 monitoring was implemented to investigate the relationship between the incidence rates inside and outside the plants. In the period of May–November 2020, 565 confirmed cases (EU 330, NA 141, LATAM 94) were observed among 20,646 workers with different jobs and tasks, and in the last two months 85% EU and 70% NA cases were recorded. Only in 10% of cases was a possible internal origin of the contagion not excluded. In the EU and NA, unlike LATAM, the COVID-19 incidence rates inside the sites punctually followed the rising trend outside. In conclusion, the model, combining a global approach with the local application of the measures, maintains the sustainability in the manufacturing industry.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; manufacturing industry; occupational health; occupational COVID-19 transmission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5771/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5771/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:5771-:d:559033

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().