Back to work? Worker participation in COVID-19 prevention in the workplace
Since the state of emergency came into force in Portugal, the government has approved exceptional measures with the aim of protecting employment, but there have been a number of situations that have given rise to interpretations that are against the law, as well as measures that are incongruous with the objectives they set out to achieve.
Filipe Lamelas and Ana Alves da Silva, CoLABOR researchers, are the authors of this third edition of Policies in Analysis, which analyzes the insufficiency, omission or problems of the legislation that creates and implements the measures in force in Portugal.During the period of confinement that is still underway, many Portuguese men and women continued to travel to their places of work. A large proportion of these workers were providing essential services, such as health care in hospitals and health centers, the supply of basic goods and services, sanitation, policing or transport.
All these workers were exposed to an increased risk of contamination. Others teleworked because their tasks didn't require them to be physically present in the company's premises, or they only worked in person for a few days during the lockdown. Still others, because they themselves were contaminated or belonged to risk groups, were absent, confined to their homes or hospitalized.
Given the emphasis placed on confining people to their homes and restricting their movement as a way of countering the spread of COVID-19, the issues of health safety at work and inequality in exposure to the risk of contagion ended up being relegated to the background. But now that the return to work is on the agenda, it's time to discuss them.
