OSHA updates guidelines for COVID-19 workplace safety

Courtesy of ASE

Yesterday, June 10th, the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued guidance for employers called Protecting Workers: Guidance for Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace (Guidance) and issued an emergency rule (Emergency Temporary Standards or ETS) that sets workplace safety parameters for employers in the health care sector for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Protecting Workers Guidance is for employers and workers not covered by the ETS. It guides employers on how to identify COVID-19 exposure risks to workers who are unvaccinated (or otherwise at-risk) and identifies appropriate steps to prevent exposure and infection. It follows the CDC guidance for vaccinated employees and recommends that those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 do not have to wear a mask or physically distance indoors or outdoors so long as no laws require otherwise. For those not vaccinated, the Guidance recommends that employers should take additional steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 for unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers in workplaces where there is heightened risk such as when unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk workers are working close to one another, for example, on production or assembly lines, or when such workers may also be near one another at other times, such as when clocking in or out, during breaks, or in locker/changing rooms.

In particular, the Guidance recommends:

Unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk workers should maintain at least 6 feet of distance from others at all times, including on breaks.
Employers should provide visual cues (e.g., floor markings, signs) as a reminder to maintain physical distancing.
Employers should stagger workers’ arrival and departure times to avoid congregations of unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk in parking areas, locker rooms.
Employers should stagger break times or provide temporary break areas and restrooms to avoid groups of unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk workers congregating during breaks.
Employers should implement strategies (tailored to your workplace) to improve ventilation that protects workers as outlined in the CDC’s Ventilation in Buildings guidance and in the OSHA Alert, COVID-19 Guidance on Ventilation in the Workplace.

The ETS is an interim final regulation and is requesting comments on all aspects of the rule, including whether it should be made a final rule, within 30 days of the date the regulation is formally published in the Federal Register. The rule has not yet been published in the Register. Specifically, the ETS requires employers in the health care sector to maintain social distancing protocols, make sure that patients are properly screened for virus symptoms, and give workers paid time off to get vaccinated and recover from vaccine side effects. Further, health care employers also will be required to craft a virus safety plan that includes specific components and must be written if more than 10 workers are employed. In addition, covered employers must screen workers prior to their shifts, provide masks and other personal protective equipment to employees for use in certain high-risk situations, ensure that masks are worn indoors and changed daily, and put in place ventilation procedures when dealing with patients who may have the virus, among other things. However, the ETS also says that fully vaccinated health care workers do not have to wear masks or adhere to masking or distancing requirements if they are in “well-defined areas where all employees are fully vaccinated” and where people who have or could potentially have the virus aren’t reasonably expected to be present. Finally, the rule includes a carveout for certain workplaces where all workers must be fully vaccinated or risk termination.