ReviewThe Science of the total environment2021
Assessing and managing SARS-CoV-2 occupational health risk to workers handling residuals and biosolids.
Review in The Science of the total environment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste: A review about virus surveillance, infectivity, and inactivation.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- Mixed-methods characterization of the tasks and factors influencing occupational exposure during biosolids land application.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Wastewater-based surveillance as a tool for public health action: SARS-CoV-2 and beyond.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the workplace: Key findings from a rapid review of the literature.Aerosol science and technology : the journal of the American Association for Aerosol Research · 2023Article
- Fate of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in wastewater treatment sludge during storage and thermophilic anaerobic digestion.Environmental research · 2022Article
- A safe haven of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment: Prevalence and potential transmission risks in the effluent, sludge, and biosolids.Geoscience frontiers · 2022Article
- Developing occupational and health susceptibility personas for wastewater personnel in the United States in the age of COVID-19.Water environment research : a research publication of the Water Environment Federation · 2022Article
- Waste management, COVID-19 and occupational safety and health: Challenges, insights and evidence.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- A Review of the Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater: Transmission Risks in Mexico.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Evaluating the impact of sample storage, handling, and technical ability on the decay and recovery of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.PloS one · 2022Article
- Differentiating between the possibility and probability of SARS-CoV-2 transmission associated with wastewater: empirical evidence is needed to substantiate risk.FEMS microbes · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 10 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Current wastewater worker guidance from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) aligns with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommendations and states that no additional specific protections against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infections, are recommended for employees involved in wastewater management operations with residuals, sludge, and biosolids at water resource recovery facilities. The USEPA guidance references a document from 2002 that summarizes practices required for protection of workers handling class B biosolids to minimize exposure to pathogens including viruses. While there is no documented evidence that residuals or biosolids of any treatment level contain infectious SARS-CoV-2 or are a source of transmission of this current pandemic strain of coronavirus, this review summarizes and examines whether the provided federal guidance is sufficient to protect workers in view of currently available data on SARS-CoV-2 persistence and transmission. No currently available epidemiological data establishes a direct link between wastewater sludge or biosolids and risk of infection from the SARS-CoV-2. Despite shedding of the RNA of the virus in feces, there is no evidence supporting the presence or transmission of infectious SARS-CoV-2 through the wastewater system or in biosolids. In addition, this review presents previous epidemiologic data related to other non-enveloped viruses. Overall, the risk for exposure to SARS-CoV-2, or any pathogen, decreases with increasing treatment measures. As a result, the highest risk of exposure is related to spreading and handling untreated feces or stool, followed by untreated municipal sludge, the class B biosolids, while lowest risk is associated with spreading or handling Class A biosolids. This review reinforces federal recommendations and the importance of vigilance in applying occupational risk mitigation measures to protect public and occupational health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.