Table 7.
The most relevant quotes to support the categories.
| Supporting quotes | Reference to the author of the quote |
|---|---|
| Languages used for searching information (other than Latvian) | |
| “The biggest input was from the group level. At the first the local situation was identified, then the guidelines come with information on what we need to focus on.” | A large company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| “Taking into account the fact that we have sites all over the world, almost in all continents, we exchanged with experience. We find out what they do, implement something similar, they take [ideas] from us. In OSH it is the same.” | An internal OSH expert |
| “We consulted with our [sister] company in Germany. They collaborated with a university hospital which summed up all up-to-date information and informed on the tendencies. That was the source we could trust.” | A large company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| “If we talk about the lack of information, then we did not wait for anything from the state. … We are an international company, so our experience is based on information received from different countries—Sweden, Finland, China, Brazil, and each country had its examples.” | A small company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| “We started to look for international experience already before WHO guidelines. We analyzed in details experience from other countries, including China.” | A large company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| “As I was abroad during that time, I, of course, checked the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and compared this information with Czech Republic, Poland, Germany. What was the development of the situation there…” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| “We searched for information in the website of the Swedish authorities on what to do with the worker with transportation back to Latvia, what to do with him in Sweden [if he is COVID positive], can he live in the same house as other workers, etc.” | A small company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| “In English, we checked the information of … crossing the borders.” | A large company from Latgale |
| Other languages than Latvian (in general) | |
| “Yes, on the Internet. We looked for general information, what is going on in the other parts of the world.” | An external OSH expert |
| “Yes, in foreign languages we were checking the situation in Europe and … looking for creative solutions.” | A large company from Latgale |
| “The information in foreign languages was used either for private use or business interests, but everything is so similar to what you can find in Latvian.” | A small company from Latgale |
| Looking for information in different channels | |
| Legal acts (online publications) | |
| “About COVID, we relied only on [the official publication of legal acts in] likumi.lv. Information published in mass media was not precise, and this affects our business.” | A small company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| Latvian news (evening news, online portals) | |
| “It was enough with TV, radio and such internet news portals as www.delfi.lv, www.tvnet.lv.” | A small company from Latgale |
| “Of course, that was press and internet. We adapted the available information from the original sources to our needs.” | An external OSH expert |
| “All sources of national mass media seemed to be very aggressive.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| Social media | |
| “Everything is on Facebook, Twitter, and they duplicate information 2, 3, 5 times, and sometimes it is impossible to read all of it.” | A large company from Vidzeme |
| “Probably [the main source of information was] Facebook, I am logged in all the time.” | A small company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| Press conferences of the government | |
| “I want to add, that, I think that the communication of the government was rather clear. We followed online press conferences and used this information to draft our internal guidelines.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| “The necessary information was obtained through Facebook streaming of governmental press conferences.” | A small company from Latgale |
| Foreign news | |
| “Information differed if it was obtained from CDPC, what is said by Dr. Apinis [former president of the Latvian Association of Physicians], what is said on CNN. These are different things.” | An external OSH expert |
| Looking for information from the Latvian sources | |
| Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDPC) | |
| “The first website for me was CDPC…” | An external OSH expert |
| “CDPC… that was [the source of] information which is trustful… We can rely on this information.” | An internal OSH expert |
| “We used a very simple tactic, and we followed it strictly. We acted as CDPC had said. If something was not clear, we wrote to CDPC and asked what to do. If the information is published on their website, we use it.” | A small company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| “In Latvia, we used information from CDPC, we did not surf on the internet, different websites, and Facebook, as there is so much fake information around.” | A large company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| National working life portal (www.stradavesels.lv) | |
| “There are informative materials in the [website] www.stradavesels.lv, a possibility to filter them and a special filter for COVID.” | An external OSH expert |
| “… I noticed and very much used the section of materials of the www.stradavesels.lv. It was possible to find many informative materials in a single place on COVID.” | An external OSH expert |
| State Labour Inspectorate | |
| “In March [of 2020] we used the website of the State Labour Inspectorate. Also, the telephone where they provide consultations.” | A large company from Vidzeme |
| “For OSH information and compulsory health surveillance, we checked the website of the State Labour Inspectorate. We have used this website on an everyday basis before COVID and continued to do the same during the pandemic.” | A small company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| Ministry of Health | |
| “We mainly used the written text of the website of the Ministry of Health and CDPC.” | An external OSH expert |
| “If the information is published on the website of CDPC, then we use it. The same with the website of the Ministry of Health.” | A small company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| Center for Protection of Consumer Rights | |
| “I have participated in some [online seminars] of the Center for Protection of Consumer Rights [on suitable personal protective equipment against COVID] and the Ministry of Economics.” | An external OSH expert |
| Ministry of Economy | |
| “We looked for information on the website of the Ministry of Economics…” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| “In the website of the Ministry of Economics, we looked for information on financial benefits for those companies who were on stoppage.” | A small company from Latgale |
| State Tax Authority | |
| “I think I obtained most information from the website of the State Tax Authority because the company was on stoppage. That was the only valuable source.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| Local authorities | |
| “… then the local authority of Valmiera has issued some information…” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs | |
| “They called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs as they employee foreigners from Ukraine and they needed information regarding their employment.” | An external OSH expert |
| “In principle, we followed information from CDPC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—mainly regarding restrictions of movement and traveling.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| “As I was abroad during that time, I, of course, checked the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and compared this information with Czech Republic, Poland, Germany. What was the development of the situation there…” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| Looking for information from the international sources | |
| World Health Organization | |
| “… And then there were also cases when we looked for something in English—Work Health Organization—in that website. There was more information on how to dress workers [in healthcare], what protection should be used.” | An external OSH expert |
| “The most precise information, of course, came from the World Health Organization. It was more related to health. I liked this source.” | An external OSH expert |
| “We obtained the basic information from the World Health Organization. Then some additional information came from CDPD. Both sources were trustful.” | A small company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA) | |
| “We followed the official sources, e.g., the website of the World Health Organization, EU-OSHA. Is there any new information available? Any new posters? Advice…” | An external OSH expert |
| Other sources with a focus on experience from China | |
| “We were looking for the experience of other countries, including China. Maybe it sounds silly, but we looked for measures that mitigate spreading of the virus, use, and placement of personal protective equipment, the flow of persons.” | A large company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| Health and Safety Executive (HSE) | |
| “[We used the same sources] as others—CDPD, the Ministry of Health, then websites in English, e.g., HSE.” | A small company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| Communication used for information search | |
| Latvian colleagues | |
| “Colleagues were the first source of information. Then scientific evidence.” | An internal OSH expert |
| “A very big support was our colleagues—mainly OSH experts. You communicate with one and then with another, so the ideas are generated.” | An internal OSH expert |
| “…and we also consulted colleagues from [the capital] Riga who work in the same area.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| International colleagues | |
| “I have some clients—international companies. They had online cooperation with Germans and Scandinavians. They were very much engaged in topics related to COVID. When mother [company] implemented measures, we followed the same way.” | An external OSH expert |
| Industry-specific non-governmental organizations | |
| “… if we look at the professional websites, then each of the English versions starts with information on COVID—what measures, how to prevent, what is good, what is bad, In principle, these are the sources where we get the ideas.” | An internal OSH expert |
| Internally hired experts (occupational physician, epidemiologist, a medical doctor specialized in infectious diseases) | |
| “We have an occupational physician working in the external OSH service provider.” | An external OSH expert |
| “At the group level, experts, specialists of infectious diseases were engaged. They drafted guidelines and they were implemented by the regional departments.” | A large company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| International clients | |
| “Then we also had the information provided by our international clients. The clients sent their internal guidelines—what they do in their companies, and we also used that information.” | A small company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| Problems with information | |
| Low quality of information | |
| “Yes, there was so much information, so contradicting information.” | An internal OSH expert |
| “Unprecise information in mass media was republished.” | A small company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| “The information in Latvian Internet is very crippled.” | A large company from Kurzeme/Zemgale |
| “I have read very many publications. I was very much interested in the topic. I read information not only in Latvian but also Russian. So—information was available, but it was also so contradicting.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| “The problem we faced was related to the fact that private media published information faster than official sources.” | A small company from Latgale |
| Too big amount of information | |
| “The problems were caused by the amount of information. In addition, there were many opinions, there were fewer answers to questions.” | A small company from Latgale |
| “Plenty of information… To verify the most essential one—it could be one of the problems.” | A small company from Riga, suburbs of Riga |
| “You must know how to use Internet resources, there are so many good things published there, but of course, …, you must also know how to filter it, which information is ok, which is not ok.” | An external OSH expert |
| “The amount of information was big, but you had to work hard to extract the specific information relevant to our industry. It had to be done yourself.” | A small company from Vidzeme |
| Problems with reaching authority | |
| “I had a reference from one company—it was impossible to reach them [the State Labour Inspectorate] by phone. Very long waiting time. That applied not only to the Labour Inspectorate, but also the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.” | An external OSH expert |
| “In March, we searched the website of the State Labour Inspectorate and the Ministry of Welfare. Also, their consulting phone. It was really hot; I don't know who could reach them.” | A large company from Vidzeme |
| “I like original sources. Therefore, I still have the phone number of CDPD in my contacts. And if I had questions, I directly called them. Of course, sometimes it was difficult to reach them.” | An external OSH expert |