The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced revised guidance for employers pertaining to workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The revised guidance is a result of an executive order signed by President Biden that directed OSHA to issue stronger guidance on COVID-19 workplace safety.
The revised guidance builds on OSHA’s original guidance outlining key measures for limiting the spread of COVID-19, including ensuring infected or potentially infected people are not in the workplace, implementing and following physical distancing protocols and using surgical masks or cloth face coverings. It also provides guidance on use of personal protective equipment, improving ventilation, good hygiene and routine cleaning.
The guidance recommends several essential elements in a workplace prevention program:
- Conduct a hazard assessment.
- Identify control measures to limit the spread of the virus.
- Adopt policies for employee absences that don’t punish workers as a way to encourage potentially infected workers to remain home.
- Ensure that coronavirus policies and procedures are communicated to both English and non-English speaking workers.
- Implement protections from retaliation for workers who raise coronavirus-related concerns.
As stated by OSHA, the updated guidance is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations. It contains recommendations as well as descriptions of existing mandatory safety and health standards. The recommendations are advisory in nature, informational in content and are intended to assist employers in recognizing and abating hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.
