OSHA Updates Non-Healthcare Employer Guidance on COVID-19 | FIRST, VERIFY

August 19, 2021

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) updated its COVID-19 guidance for non-healthcare employers, Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace, on August 13, 2021.


While embracing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated recommendations for fully vaccinated people in areas of substantial or high transmission of COVID-19, OSHA also echoes the protocol President Joe Biden adopted for many federal employees and on-site employees of federal contractors and suggests that employers may want to “consider” adopting a policy requiring employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination or submit to regular COVID-19 testing.


In July 2021, the CDC issued new recommendations that everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear masks in indoor public settings in all areas experiencing substantial or high transmission of COVID-19. That CDC guidance also recommended that fully vaccinated individuals test for COVID-19 and mask after having close contact with an individual suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19. With respect to schools, the CDC recommended universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools.


The CDC recommendations were precipitated by new evidence regarding the more transmissible Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. As explained by OSHA, “preliminary evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who do become infected with the Delta variant can be infectious and can spread the virus to others.”


OSHA’s guidance now includes the following recommendations:


All workers, including fully vaccinated people, wear a face covering, as appropriate, in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission (unless their work requires a respirator or other personal protective equipment [PPE]);


Employers suggest or require all customers, visitors, or guests wear face coverings in public, indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission of COVID-19;

Employers consider adopting policies that require workers to get vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing — in addition to masking wearing and physical distancing — if they remain unvaccinated; and


Fully vaccinated workers who have a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 be tested three days to five days after exposure and wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result.


What This Means for Employers


The latest guidance expressly states that it is not a standard or regulation, and that it creates no new legal obligations. The recommendations are advisory in nature and intended to help employers recognize and eliminate hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm as part of their obligation to provide a safe and healthful workplace. The guidance makes clear that many healthcare settings are still covered by OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard. Employers should also remain cognizant of different requirements under state OSHA plans.


However, as employers reassess their COVID-19 workplace practices, they should keep in mind that during the Biden Administration, OSHA has more than tripled its use of the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act to cite employers for COVID-19 hazards not covered by an existing standard. Under the General Duty Clause, OSHA can cite an employer in the absence of a specific OSHA standard, such as those that govern respiratory protection, PPE, and sanitation. It will become even more important to keep abreast of industry best practices, especially related to industries at higher risk of spreading COVID-19, such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and meat and poultry processing. Considering OSHA’s new guidance, employers may need to review policies and procedures regarding any potential COVID-19 exposure to employees and consider developing an infectious disease plan.


OSHA continues to recommend that employers adopt a layered approach to minimizing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace and summarizes the many protective measures employers may choose to use. Regardless of the measures employers choose to implement, their obligation to provide reasonable accommodations for religious, pregnancy-related, and medical reasons, absent undue hardship, continues. OSHA’s guidance notes that accommodation issues may arise with respect to face coverings (including respirators or other PPE) or vaccination requirements. Further, it states that certain medical conditions may put employees at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, by virtue of the condition itself or the inability to use face coverings or be vaccinated due to the condition. Such individuals may be entitled to other reasonable accommodations to protect them from contracting COVID-19.


Source: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/osha-updates-non-healthcare-employer-guidance-covid-19

You might also like

Contractor Takeover Leads to Tortious Interference with Contract and Conspiracy Claims

October 28, 2021
When a subcontractor is having trouble completing its subcontract work, it is not uncommon for a contractor to assert itself more directly into the completion process to help expedite the work. What’s the harm you might ask? A recent Loudoun County, Virginia case answered that question: It could lead to tortious interference with contract and conspiracy claims by the subcontractor. That case was Evans Construction Services (the subcontractor) versus Ox Builders (the contractor), and it also included a claim by the subcontractor against the contractor’s site superintendent, Lawler, as a co-defendant in the case individually. Evans alleged that Ox and Lawler tortuously interfered with Evan’s subcontracts by dealing directly with the subcontractors and directing the subcontractors’ work, cutting Evans out of the picture. Evans sought to recover its lost profits. Ox and Lawler argued against liability because Evans’ claims sought redress outside of Evans’ subcontracts with Ox and because Evans had no contract with Lawler at all, moving to dismiss Evans’ lawsuit as a matter of law. The court denied that motion, holding that the facts as pled by Evans were legally sufficient if ultimately proven by Evans, to support a claim for breach of legal duties separate from duties arising contractually only; and specifically for wrongful interference with Evans’ subcontracts and Evans’ related conspiracy claim against the defendants. Although the court acknowledged that Evans’ claims were interrelated with the Ox – Evans subcontracts underlying the parties’ relationship, those common facts could support both contractual and non-contractual breach claims in certain circumstances. The court further determined that such circumstances, if ultimately proven, included Evans’ claims that Ox and Lawler violated their independent common law duties to not interfere with Evans’ lower tier subcontracts and not conspire together to injure Evans in its business. The court, therefore, allowed Evans’ claims to proceed to trial on their merits. The defendants apparently did not argue to dismiss the conspiracy claim on the basis Lawler, as an employee of Ox, could not conspire with Ox, his employer (referred to as the intercorporate immunity doctrine), or at least that defense was not discussed in the court’s decision. But, regardless, this decision reflects the necessity for caution “going around” subcontractors when subcontract disputes arise. Author: Neil S. Lowenstein Source: https://vanblacklaw.com/construction/contractor-takeover-leads-to-tortious-interference-with-contract-and-conspiracy-claims/
OSHA inspection, CONSTRUCTION Management

During an OSHA inspection: Know your rights

October 13, 2021
During an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection, the OSHA official, escorted by management, will tour the facility or construction site to observe working conditions, identify violations, and so on.

OSHA’s new initiative to protect workers from hazards of extreme heat | FIRST, VERIFY

October 4, 2021
As part of the Biden-Harris administration's interagency effort and commitment to workplace safety, climate resilience, and environmental justice, the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is initiating enhanced measures to protect workers better in hot environments and reduce the dangers of exposure to ambient heat. To combat the hazards associated with extreme heat exposure – both indoors and outdoors – the White House, on September 22 nd announced an enhanced and expanded efforts the U.S. Department of Labor is taking to address heat-related illnesses. While heat illness is largely preventable and commonly under-reported, thousands of workers are sickened each year by workplace heat exposure. Despite widespread under-reporting, 43 workers died from heat illness in 2019, and at least 2,410 others suffered serious injuries and illnesses. The Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center estimates the economic loss from heat to be at least $100 billion annually – a number that could double by 2030 and quintuple by 2050 under a higher emissions scenario. What is the initiative? To highlight its concern and take necessary steps, OSHA is implementing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards, developing a National Emphasis Program on heat inspections, and launching a rulemaking process to develop a workplace heat standard. In addition, the agency is forming a National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Work Group to provide a better understanding of challenges and to identify and share best practices to protect workers. OSHA implemented an intervention and enforcement initiative recently to prevent and protect workers from heat-related illnesses and deaths while they are working in hazardous hot environments. The newly established initiative prioritizes heat-related interventions and inspections of work activities on days when the heat index exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Scope of the initiative: The initiative applies to both indoor and outdoor worksites. Indoor worksites that may be impacted by extreme heat include foundries, brick-firing, and ceramic plants, glass production facilities, rubber products factories, electrical utilities (particularly boiler rooms), bakeries, confectioneries, commercial kitchens, laundries, food canneries, warehouses without adequate climate control, chemical plants, and smelters. Outdoor work activities that may cause exposure to extreme heat include agriculture, landscaping, construction operations, refining gas/oil and well operations, asbestos and lead removal, waste collection activities, package and mail delivery, and any other activities that require moderate to high physical exertions or the wearing of heavy or bulky clothing or equipment on a hot day. According to Jim Frederick, Acting Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, usually agricultural and construction workers often come to mind first when thinking about workers most exposed to heat hazards. However, without proper safety actions, sun protection, and climate control, intense heat can be injurious to various workers indoors or outdoors and during any season. Heat-related directives: OSHA Area Directors across the nation will institute the following: Prioritize inspections of heat-related complaints, referrals, and employer-reported illnesses and initiate an onsite investigation where possible. Instruct compliance safety and health officers, during their travels to job sites, to conduct an intervention (providing the agency's heat poster/wallet card, discuss the importance of easy access to cool water, cooling areas, and acclimatization) or opening an inspection when they observe employees performing strenuous work in hot conditions. Expand the scope of other inspections to address heat-related hazards where worksite conditions or other evidence indicates these hazards may be present. In October 2021, OSHA will take an important step toward a federal heat standard to safeguard protections in workplaces across the country by issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on heat injury and illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings. The advance notice will initiate a comment period allowing OSHA to gather diverse perspectives and technical expertise on topics including heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, exposure monitoring, and strategies to protect workers. How should employers prepare? Employers should be aware of potential citations relating to heat illness and should prepare for inspections by reviewing their procedures and developing a manner to monitor outdoor (and, in certain industries, indoor) temperatures, ensuring employees have access to shade and water. They also need to educate employees on signs of heat illness and provide access to ventilation or cooling areas in their workplace. Once OSHA’s ANPRM is released, employers need to be ready with data and information to identify complexities with compliance. Source : https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/09202021
More Posts

Book a Service Today

Share by: