Capturing occupational risk of airborne disease: An international job-exposure matrix based on five exposure factors

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to construct a job-exposure matrix (JEM) for the risk of being infected by infectious agents through airborne or droplet transmission in an occupational setting, which might lead to a respiratory disease.

METHODS: An established COVID-19-JEM formed the basis for the development of the general airborne infectious agents JEM. Nine researchers in occupational epidemiology from three European countries (Denmark, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) discussed and agreed on which factors from the COVID-19-JEM were relevant and whether new factors or adjustments of risk levels were needed. Adjustments to the COVID-19 JEM were made in a structured iterative. based on an expert assessment, a JEM on solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure including information on hours per day working inside, and national data on hours per week on site. Finally, a risk score was assigned to all factors for each job title within the International Standard Classification of Occupations system 2008 (ISCO-08).

RESULTS: This airborne infectious agents JEM contains five factors: (i) hours spent per week on site, (ii) hours spent per day working inside, (iii) number and (iv) nature of contacts, and (v) being in close physical contact to others. Per occupation, a risk score ranging from 1 (low risk) to 3 (high risk) was provided for all five factors separately.

CONCLUSION: This newly developed infectious agents JEM assesses the risk at population level using five factors. Following validation, this JEM could serve as a valuable tool in future studies investigating the role of work in the occurrence of a respiratory disease.