COVID-19 measurements at the workplace in various industries and company sizes: a 2-month follow-up cohort study of full-time employees in Japan

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate workplace measures implemented in response to COVID-19 during the outbreak in Japan from T1 (March 2020) to T2 (May 2020), focusing on the disparities by company size and industry. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted using a cohort of full-time employees, starting with the baseline online survey on March 19–22, 2020 (T1). An online follow-up survey was conducted on May 22–26, 2020 (T2). The McNemar test was used to assess differences between T1 and T2 in the proportion of implemented measurements. Analysis of covariance was performed to compare the differences in the number of implemented measures across groups classified by company size or industry, adjusting for sex and age. Results: A total of 1,032 participants (response rate: 72.6%) completed the follow-up questionnaire. The final analytic sample comprised n=987. The workplace measures involving the delivery of information on COVID-19 were 88.4% at T2, which significantly increased from T1 (increased 8.6%, p<0.001). As well as the T1 survey, respondents in the smaller companies reported a significantly smaller number of measures, but the disparity compared to large companies became small. The same trend was observed in the type of industry. Conclusions: This study showed an improvement in the implementation of preventive measures in response to COVID-19 in the workplace in Japan through the first wave outbreak. The disparity between companies of different sizes and from different industries decreased at T2, suggesting that company groups that initially implemented fewer measures caught up.