Preventive Measures Against COVID-19 in Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises from an Early Stage of the Epidemic in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do

Kiook Baek; Seong-Hui Kim; Chulyong Park; Joon Sakong

doi:10.1016/j.shaw.2022.06.001

Preventive Measures Against COVID-19 in Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises from an Early Stage of the Epidemic in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do

Saf Health Work. 2022 Sep;13(3):294-301. doi: 10.1016/j.shaw.2022.06.001. Epub 2022 Jun 13.

Authors

Kiook Baek¹, Seong-Hui Kim², Chulyong Park¹, Joon Sakong^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Yeungnam University Hospital, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
² Korean Association of Occupational Health Nurse, Daegu Health and Safety Center, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Collage of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Background: In the early stage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be an important transmission consideration. The study aimed to identify the pattern of COVID-19 prevention measures during the outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do at the early stage of COVID-19. Moreover, we investigated whether SME size and past experiences affected the preventive measures implemented in the region.

Methods: A survey detailing the general characteristics and implementation of 12 preventive activities was conducted in 122 SMEs in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do. The survey was analyzed by size and operation period.

Results: The study subjects consisted of 53 (43.4%) workplaces with 1-5 employees, 50 (40.9%) workplaces with 6-30 employees, and 19 (15.6%) workplaces with 31-49 employees. The lowest three items among those surveyed were 'symptomatic workers to stay home for 3-4 days' (17.2%), 'work remotely' (18.9%), and 'video meetings' (20.5%). There were significant differences in the rate of several preventive measures implemented. The larger sized SMEs, the higher the number of implementations (p < 0.01). The operation period had no significant relationship with the implementation of preventive measures. The same pattern was observed in multiple generalized linear regression with covariate adjustment.

Conclusion: Preventive measures among SMEs with fewer than 50 employees were identified. Even within SMEs, a gap in preventive measures according to size was confirmed. To prevent the spread of infection and protect workers' right to health, different support for different sized SMEs is necessary.

Keywords: ANOVA, Analysis of Variance; COVID-19; COVID-19, Coronavirus disease 2019; Epidemic; MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; Preventive measures; SMEs, Small- and Mid-sized Enterprises; Small- and medium-sized enterprises.