Extended Summary

Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 have directed people to more online shopping, and as a result, an unpredictable density has been experienced in the cargo sector.

This study aims to determine the changes in OHS practices related to cargo workers who continue working throughout the pandemic and have a very high potential to contact different people in different regions and their perceptions and attitudes regarding pandemic measures, vaccines, changes in working life, and occupational risks.

Within the scope of the study, an online survey was conducted with 469 cargo employees who are union members. The hypotheses established for the research questions were tested with the Chi-Square test, which examines whether two categorical variables are independent in influencing the test statistic.

The survey results showed an increase in the working hours of cargo workers and the number of people served (or cargo delivered).

It has been determined that OHS measures that do not burden the employer and will not disrupt the workflow were applied, but measures that may slow down or disrupt the service were not implemented.

It was determined that most respondents (70.1%) received OHS training during the pandemic. It has been revealed that the most important contributions of OHS education are; paying attention to social distancing with colleagues, using masks by hygiene rules, and learning the differences between mask types. In addition, those who received OHS training during the pandemic think that this period has been successfully carried out in terms of OHS. Also, most survey participants (47.2%) state that hygiene and social distance measures are followed when employees are together.

Cargo workers who do not want to be vaccinated are not afraid of contracting COVID-19. This situation can be explained by the belief that “the vaccine is considered useless due to the harmless nature of COVID-19”, which is among the factors that negatively affect the vaccine approach of the society in the literature or the thought that the disease is transmitted somehow, no matter how many precautions are taken.

In the first shutdown (March 2020-June 2020), the rate of cargo workers (33.7%) who felt performance pressure is higher than in other periods in the pandemic. This outcome supports the studies that reveal that consumer habits have changed in the form of e-commerce and home ordering during the pandemic.

As a result, cargo employees stated that the pandemic adversely affected their workload, work stress, and health risks. However, they also thought that these risks were eliminated as much as possible with OHS precautions.

It is recommended to cooperate with distribution by optimizing routes, expanding contactless delivery practices, and determining OHS measures by considering sectoral and spatial variables at the highest level to minimize cargo workers’ contamination risk.

In addition, the studies of international organizations such as the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization, and the European Union to determine the relation of COVID-19 with work should be followed regularly, and necessary regulations should be made in national legislation.