Man-made disaster: A Case Study Of COVID-19

Question

Task:
You will individually complete a case study of 2000 words on community and group level responses to your group’s chosen disaster (natural or man-made disaster). The case study requires you to critically analyses theoretical approaches to different community development processes and to explore the potential dilemmas and challenges arising from their application.

Your case study will include the following:

• Describe the disaster.
• Impact of the disaster on groups and communities, including identification and discussion of groups at increased risk.
• Discussion and comparison of two social work models/frameworks that could be applied in response to your disaster with a focus on community and group level responses. Discussion will include consideration of social, cultural and economic issues to be considered, as well as how responses link to social work theories, practice and values. You will analyze and critique the appropriateness of these models/frameworks to disaster responses in your chosen context.

Answer

1. Introduction
Natural or man-made disaster, both have traditionally affected the development process of a community. Overcoming the rising risk from such disasters, the identification and elimination of the risk factors have become necessary. In this current report, analysis has been done on the nature of the chosen disaster to take preventive measurements on the community level. The impact of human-made disaster COVID-19 on the workplace has been discussed in the report. Appropriate social work models have been used to analyse their impact on the workplace. Disaster affects the community at social, cultural, and economical levels so the development of the appropriate social framework is necessary to handle the post-disaster damage effect.

2. Disaster Description
Human-made disaster COVID-19had started to spread its adverse effects on the community from the year 2019. It develops a potential threat for different age groups. Due to this COVID-19 pandemic mostly affected age group is old age, but the community transmission possesses a threat for every group of community. Disaster plays the role of catalyst and damages life (Rahman, 2019). According to the governance rule of safety measures in the COVID-19 pandemic social gathering is not allowed. It affects the economic, social, and cultural life of the public. It also develops adverse effects on the workplace, especially for the employee.

Another issue in the human-made disaster is that identification of the risk factors is very critical but it can be preventable. The process of developing protection for the community is time lengthy process. Development of appropriate protection many trial and error process is used. Until the COVID-19 possesses a potential threat for the community.

3. Impact of COVID-19 on Employees of Workplace
3.1 Risk Identification
COVID-19 has developed new normal practices for the workplace community. According to safety guidelines, social gathering is not allowed so many organizations adopt work from home facilities for continuing their productivity. Developing a new working format in an organization required skilled leadership. Developing this format creates a risk for workplace employees.

• Work from home format is affordable for some economical class but others suffer from the financial crisis. The chance of getting terminated by an organization becomes high for the lower economy group. The necessary knowledge of handling new patterns becomes more complex for a new joiner in the workplace.
• If the managing team of the organization is unable to handle the employee it will create conflicts. It is necessary to have a calm mind and a strategic mental state to change the situation in a positive way. Otherwise, a rude attitude develops anxiety in employees and affects organizational activity.

3.2 Discussion of Risk Factors
COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly, increasing risk factors in our life. While working, it is not always possible to wear masks and maintaining social distance from others. As a result, employees are getting affected in COVID-19. The fear of being infected and transmitting infection are most frequent in the workplaces (Nabe-Nielsen et al., 2020). Workers are compelled to do work from home and it also increases risk factors. There is a lack of communication between the employees as face-to-face interaction is not possible. Employees have to communicate through video conference but it is not a perfect replacement of the problem. The risk is not only with the work culture, but also, some organizations cannot afford all the employees during the pandemic situation. As a result, some employees have to be terminated for no reason and employees’ salaries are also deducted. The productivity of the organization has also been decreased for all of these reasons. The authority cannot control all the employees virtually and manage all the initiatives while providing a clear vision and mission of the workplace.

4. Social Work Models
4.1 Green Social Work
Green Social Work (GSW) is none other than a holistic approach to professional social practice. It mainly deals with immediate surroundings along with other environmental and social issues and focuses on-

• The interdependencies among people.
• The relationship between people and their natural habitats
• Interactions between physical environmental and socio-economic crisis
• Various interpersonal behaviours have effects on the well-being of planet-earth and human beings

GSW plays a significant role in introducing various new issues in environmental debates and social work practices. There is a symbiotic relationship between humans and the environment (Powers et al., 2018). Sometimes human gives an impact on the ecosystem which often puts humans and the environment at great risks along with crises at the global and ecological level.

In 2020, the arrival of Covid-19 creates a pandemic as well as a social issue of social and physical distancing as it is a highly transmitted and communicable disease. In the modern world, the human population can't stay in solidarity. Covid-19 throws a challenge to social workers in this health pandemic to provide essential services. Due to global lockdown, social work is also affected, though they have safeguarded children and older adult people. Although the role of social workers is yet to identify at various workplaces. People find different problems at the workplace, as some workers have to work from home with lacking proper official infrastructure. Some workers have to attain office regularly where they become insecure regarding lacking proper safety measures. Some offices adopt various methods to improve the mental health of the workers but it is not possible in every aspect. Some companies develop new technologies to control the spreading of Covid-19 and make the office environment safe. Some methods are innovated to support workers who are in mental and physical stress.

There is inadequate knowledge about Covid-19 along with proper treatment. A GSW perspective shows the importance of human well-being along with environmental protection during disasters which include health pandemics. A social worker can demand a proper environment for a person to sustain the spreading of the coronavirus. GSW perspective recognizes national and socio-economic contexts that are culturally relevant, specific to a locality, and focused nationally. The main cause of the spreading of the coronavirus is due to human-animal interactions and the virus spread from wildlife to the human population. Adaptation of GSW encourages social workers to get support against the exploitation of ecosystems and animals which will be fruitful for humanity.

4.2 Community Development Theory
Community development is the basic and the most significant element of social work practice and knowledge. During the 1950s, the professional practice of community development started in the UK (Craig, 2016). A theorization of community development in social work began in the 1960s by a British community worker. It is an individual practice that focuses on the continuous absolute and clear class-level view of the society and extension of community work. Community development is considered to be the most challenging social work practice in the workplace. Especially man-made disaster COVID-19. Community Development is a social work approach to advance the standard of living and well-being of the different groups and communities of people globally. Community development and social work can only flourish through co-operation (Clarke, 2018). Providing training programs to the social workers where social work education would consider being absent without a community development component. The main focuses of community development are economic development and community development.

The figure is showing the field of practices should be considered by the community developers
(Rubenson, 2000)

It can be measured by the principle of community participation, integration, self-help, community organization and capacity building. It is an interdisciplinary model that is originated from disciplines such as social work and urban planning. The primary linkage developed between macro practice and community development. There are various challenges present in the disaster management community development. First and foremost, community development workers are not social workers. Hence any issue that arises from a disaster perspective are not certainly influence social work. Secondly, if the disaster needs a community development response, a social worker who takes up the role of community worker would not have proper access to community development. This problem will arise due to the marginalization in social work methodology. Communication development practitioners are concern about the change or loss of control in decision-making in different groups and communities in a workplace during a disaster like COVID-19. Different backgrounds, culture, a race must be included in the communication model. The issue of disaster increases the risk for those who are living in a particular location and geographically vulnerable areas or disaster-prone areas.

4.3 Analysis of Social Work Models
Covid-19 is a human-made disaster, it affected humanity and also fall impact the economic factors of the country. Due to pandemics, the social life of people has been hampered. The workers or employees of organizations have lost their jobs. Survey shows that tons of people are at risk of falling into below poverty line. Through the social work model, the economic, political, cultural, and social factors of the workplace. Green social work describes the social issues and it deals with the environmental stability in the human population.

Green social work also describes the effect of human-made disasters on the environment. The green social workers help the workplace employees to save themselves in the pandemic situation. Through innovative approaches, the worker can also stop the transmission of the virus among employees. The GSW also give importance to the protection of human being in the pandemic situation. GSW identified the coronavirus passing from animals to humans. The social workers give solutions to the workers regarding the COVID-19 in the workplace. Using digital technologies, GSW workers give tips and tricks about safeguarding office employees.

In the COVID-19 situation, employees of the workplace have been affected badly, it also has affected the development of the community. In the workplace, employees have their community. In some workplaces, females are suppressed by male co-workers and it also affects badly on careers. In a pandemic situation, people in sociality are suffering from inequality. In the overcrowded areas, the virus has spread to an extreme level. Through the community development process, co-operation and collaboration can be done and it can also save lives during a pandemic(Kenny, 2020). The development process can also impact the workplace environment. It will help to improve the business sectors and helps to maintain the workplace ethnicity during COVID-19.

Through the process, the workplace authority can also transfer the works digitally. The development process can make the workplace safe, during, and after COVID-19. The community developers mostly give value to the people who are suffering from the pandemic. The indigenous people in the workplace can be benefitted because of the safe workplace environment. The community developers or social workers make the workplace better for the female workers and also cared about the aged workers in the organization. Social workers can build a community, where the inequality of the workplace can be solved strategically.

5. Roles of Social Workers in COVID-19
The role of social workers is very crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic as they have to adapt quickly to the health, social and economic aspects of the pandemic. In the pandemic, they are providing direct and continuous support to the people as possible. Their primary roles in this pandemic included reducing infection risks and harms and proving social and economic consequences of lockdown. Social workers support local communities, families, and individuals and provide necessary items to them. Not only that, they look after many elderly people and COVID-19 affected people ignoring all risks.

6. Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has become a disaster as it has affected social, economic, and health aspects of our lives. The life of people has changed variously, causing a global loss and presents a challenge to public health, lifestyle, and work culture. In the situation of socio-economic changes, the implication of green social work is highly required. It deals with the impact of the uncertain environment upon human populations. Additionally, COVID-19 has also some negative aspects in the workplaces and men are getting more affected than the woman. Community Development Theory helps to reduce the risk and manages its welfare. Social workers play an important role in this pandemic situation and without them, the pandemic cannot be managed properly.

7. References
Clarke, S. (2018). Social Work as Community Development: A management model for social change. Routledge.

Craig, G. (2016). Community development in the UK: whatever happened to class? A historical analysis. Class, Inequality and Community Development, 39.

Kenny, S. (2020). Covid-19 and community development. Community Development Journal, 55(4), 699–703.

Nabe-Nielsen, K., Nilsson, C. J., Juul-Madsen, M., Bredal, C., Hansen, L. O. P., & Hansen, Å. M. (2020). COVID-19 risk management at the workplace, fear of infection and fear of transmission of infection among frontline employees. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 1–7.

Powers, M. C. F., Willett, J., Mathias, J., Hayward, A., Powers, M. C. F., Willett, J., Mathias, J., & Hayward, A. (2018). Green social work for environmental justice: Implications for international social workers. The Routledge Handbook of Green Social Work, 74–84.

Rahman, F. (2019). Save the world versus man-made disaster: A cultural perspective. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 235, 1–10.