Topic: Mask Confusion: As Workplace Health Becomes Job No. 1, Respirators Lean High-Tech
Following the latest Centers of Disease Control guidance, mass confusion reigns about the role of mask-wearing.
As summer seasonal activity opens up after a full year in limbo, and as corporate and commercial America take on the challenge of rebooting normalized workplaces as an anchor of economic dynamism in the period known as “learning to live with Covid,” confusion is likely asking for trouble.
The bottom line – mask or no mask, work, play, or anywhere in between – comes down to fresh air flow, which happens naturally outdoors, and may or may not happen mechanically in indoor or otherwise closed in working environments. As firms press “go” on plans to bring some perhaps new modicum of workplace operations up to full strength, it may be that construction job sites offer a template for occupational health and safety in this latest patch of pandemic time.
“As what we call ‘Act 2’ of living-with-Covid gets underway – and particularly as the season brings warmer weather into play – the most important factor we now know about that wasn’t clear when the CDC was giving guidance a year ago is that Covid is an atmospheric virus,” says Dan Carlin, M.D., CEO and founder of JobSiteCare and CEO of WorldClinic, a Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.-base occupational health and safety consultancy. “As capacity restrictions relax and case rates decline, the important go-forward area to focus on is on ventilation, air flow, and indoor air exchange – inside, or in tight working conditions where the air exchange is low – we’d recommend wearing a mask.”
That advice – whether it’s a window installer, a subflooring contractor, a crew member whose job involves ascending 30 floors in a buck hoist, or any other indoor employee – applies to workplaces generally. This McKinsey & Company analysis of PPE industry prospects notes: “Tailwinds and headwinds will continue to have a divergent effect on the $13.5 billion US PPE business for the next several years, both for end-user industries and specific product segments.”
Topic Discussed: Mask Confusion: As Workplace Health Becomes Job No. 1, Respirators Lean High-Tech
