Despite its impact on the working lives of many people, the coronavirus is still not considered an occupational disease
This week it has been three years since the start of the confinement derived from the COVID-19 pandemic was decreed, which marked a before and after. Spanish society has been an example of responsibility when it comes to combating this disease that has claimed the lives of 120,000 people.
During that time, many working people continued to provide services in person at their workplace, such as in healthcare, elderly and dependent care, education, transportation, manufacturing, construction, the cleaning industry , commerce, agriculture or the food industry. Others carried out their work through teleworking from their homes. Both situations generated risks and challenges regarding the protection of the safety and health of workers.
From those situations we have experienced, we have understood that public health and occupational health must go hand in hand when it comes to effectively facing these challenges. Work has begun in order to achieve greater coordination between the different administrations with a view to future crises. We have a good example in the recently signed Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health at Work 2023-2027.
The mental health problems of the population in general and particularly of working people were the subject of debate. Influenced, without a doubt, by the situation of workers in the health and social health sector who had to face long working hours. They fought against a disease for which there was no treatment without personal protective equipment, which caused serious consequences for their health, not only physical but especially mental. At the other extreme were the new teleworkers, who could not disconnect and who maintained a permanent availability that also took its toll.
Today there are challenges and pending issues, not only in terms of public health but also occupational health. As a challenge, the reincorporation to the workplace of all those workers who suffer from persistent COVID and who present pathologies that do not allow them to resume their daily lives, including the normal performance of their job, must be faced. From UGT we propose that medical examinations be carried out, after long absences from the workplace due to illness, to assess the health status of the worker and that the workplace be adapted according to the new health needs of the sick person. of persistent COVID.
As a pending issue, we must remember that today COVID-19 is not recognized in our country as an occupational disease, as the UGT has claimed since the beginning of the pandemic. This is why we demand that COVID-19 be included in the list of Spanish occupational diseases, expanding the sectors included in Recommendation (EU) 2022/2337 to cover all those affected by occupational exposure to this virus.
