• Ferit Serkan Öngel, Nuran Gülenç, Gurkan Emre Gürcanli, and Peri Arbak.
• Gaziantep University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences - Gaziantep, Turkey.
• Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2022 Mar 1; 68 (3): 351-355.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to compare the workers in the metal and transportation sectors in terms of COVID-19 infection frequency and to examine and establish links between infection frequency and the workplace working conditions.MethodsA survey was prepared and conducted with a questionnaire prepared on the Google Form platform consisting of questions about the pandemic among the members of the All Transport Workers' and The United Metalworkers' Union in Turkey.ResultsThe number of workers diagnosed with COVID-19 was 5.8% in the transportation sector and 2.8% in the metal sector, with a significant difference (p=0.036). The percentage of workers diagnosed with COVID-19 who worked at a physical proximity less than 2 m in the transportation sector was higher than those who worked in the metal sector (p=0.014). The proportion of those who stated that there were COVID-19 patients among their colleagues and working at a physical proximity less than 2 m at the workplace was 18.2% in the transportation and 10.6% in the metal sector, with a significant difference (p=0.003), those who took time off from work was 74%, but 28.5% successively (p<0.001). The share of those who thought that the protective equipment and/or measures were not sufficient during the pandemic was 41.9% in the transportation and 17.7% in the metal sector (p<0.001).ConclusionThe results emphasized that the characteristics of jobs, physical proximity during job hours, the use of protective equipment, and size of the workplaces should be considered as reasons for different infection risks in different sectors.

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