Best Practices for Essential Infrastructure Workers during Contagious Illness Outbreaks

Abstract

The transportation system plays an important role in society and communities, enabling personal mobility, as well as freight movement, which is required to maintain the supply chain, ensure store shelves are stocked, and ensure the movement of medical supplies and other goods required for essential workers. In the U.S., much of the roadway transportation system is maintained by local agencies; many of these local agencies also provide essential services such as trash collection and water services for the community. In the U.S., workers that support critical infrastructure are considered essential workers and, in most cases, their work did not stop even when stay-at-home orders were issued during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. As true for most organizations, these agencies did not have detailed plans, hazard assessment or safety protocols for contagious illness outbreaks and as a result many agencies were not well prepared to properly protect worker health and safety. This paper discusses the role and classification of essential workers in the U.S.; this is important since it has an impact on which workers continued to work during the pandemic and which workers ceased to work during stay-at-home orders. This paper also documents how local agencies managed their on-going work during the pandemic, including results from a survey of local agencies during the height of the pandemic and four case studies describing innovative practices and challenges, as well as the information and materials needed to work effectively during the pandemic. This paper also provides a discussion of activities that can be undertaken to prepare for any future contagious illness outbreak.