S-106 Risk of exposure to a SARS-CoV-2 infection at work: development of a Job Exposure Matrix (COVID-19-JEM) for Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

IntroductionAs workplaces may be one of the key settings in the spread of SARS-COV-2 infections, among both essential and non-essential workers, it is important to assess the occupations at increased risk of exposure to SARS-COV-2 in large study populations.ObjectivesThis study aimed to construct a job-exposure matrix (JEM) for the risk of becoming infected with SARS-COV-2 in an occupational setting.MethodsExperts in occupational epidemiology from three European countries (Denmark, the Netherlands and United Kingdom) defined relevant exposure and workplace characteristics with regard to possible exposure to SARS-COV-2. Within an iterative qualitative process, experts rated the different dimensions of the COVID-19-JEM for each job title within the International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO-08). The agreement scores including confidence intervals, weighted kappas, and explained variances were estimated.ResultsThe COVID-19-JEM contains four determinants of transmission risk (number of people, type of contacts, indirect contact and location), two mitigation measures (social distancing and face covering), and two social factors (income insecurity and migrant workers). Agreement scores ranged from 0.58 (95%CI 0.55;0.61) for ‘number of people’ to 0.76 (95%CI 0.74;0.78) for ‘type of contacts’. Agreement scores ranged from 0.58 (95%CI 0.55;0.61) for ‘number of people’ to 0.76 (95%CI 0.74;0.78) for ‘type of contacts. Weighted kappas ranged from 0.60 for ‘face covering’ to 0.80 for ‘indirect contact’. Due to some between-country differences, COVID-19-JEMs are separately presented for Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.ConclusionsThe COVID-19-JEM provides risk estimates at population level of the eight dimensions related to a SARS-COV-2 infection at the workplace, and is a valuable tool for epidemiological studies. Additionally, the eight dimensions of the COVID-19-JEM could also be used for other communicable diseases at worksites.