OSHA Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic Michael Prendergast , Partner – Jacksonville, FL Karen Milner , Partner – St. Louis, MO Thursday, September 10, 2020
It is critical that employers in all businesses remember that, in addition to all of the additional workplace OSHA Remains Active guidance that has been provided during the pandemic, governmental watchdog agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration remain active.
Today’s Focus To review specific OSHA standards that have not changed, but have special • meaning or interpretations during the pandemic To review OSHA recordkeeping requirements you may need to consider • (employee temperatures?) Review OSHA’s investigative process and how that process has changed during • the pandemic Review an employer’s options when OSHA comes knocking at your door • Review OSHA’s informal process after completion of an investigation that results • in issuance of citations Review OSHA formal process for contesting citations • Review OSHA’s prohibition on retaliation against employees reporting violations • and the consequences of engaging in retaliation
OSHA Standards There is no specific OSHA standard covering COVID-19. Key OSHA standards that apply in COVID-19 Era. • the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) standard (in general industry, 29 CFR 1910 Subpart I), • the Respiratory Protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134), • Bloodborne Pathogens (29 CFR 1910.130) • Recordkeeping (29 CFR 1904) • the General Duty Clause, 29 USC 654(a)(1) which requires employers to furnish to each worker “employment and a place of employment, which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”
OSHA’S COVID-19 PPE Requirements OSHA recommends different Personal Protective Equipment and Guidance based on COVID-19 Exposure level and type of work performed.
PPE Considerations In general: • The PPE should be selected based on the results of an employer’s hazard assessment and workers’ specific job duties; • Respirators must meet the requirements of OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134) to include medical exams, fit testing and training; • Respiratory protection must be worn while performing or present for aerosol generating procedures such as CPR and intubation. • Employers should establish and ensure workers follow standard operating procedures for cleaning (and laundering PPE and items such as lab coats or uniforms intended to function as PPE and SOP’s for maintaining, storing and disposing of PPE. • Whenever PPE is contaminated with human blood, bodily fluids, or other infectious materials, employers must follow the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030 and OSHA’s Enforcement Procedure for Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens.
PPE for Those Engaged in Employee Health Screenings • Reliance on social distancing will not be possible if the health screener will be taking temperatures. • Reliance on barrier/partition controls: during screening, the screener stands behind a physical barrier such as a glass or plastic window or partition that can protect the screener’s face and mucous membranes from respiratory droplets that can be produced when an employee sneezes or coughs.
Bloodborne Pathogens Standard OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) applies to occupational exposure to human blood and other potentially infectious materials. Although this standard does not include respiratory secretions that may transmit COVID-19 it can provide a framework that may help control some sources of the virus. Control Measures The following list provides some example control measures which may be applicable to every organization: • Engineering controls such as installing high-efficiency air filters, increasing ventilation rates, or installing physical barriers, such as clear plastic sneeze guards. • Implementing basic infection control measures: hand washing, require sick workers to stay home, encourage employees to cover their coughs/sneezes, routine cleaning and disinfecting. • Increasing social distancing by staggering breaks/lunches, encouraging employees to work from home, creating flexible work hours, creating additional shifts, or increasing the physical distance between employees.
Bloodborne Pathogens Standard Control Measures, continued: • Developing policies and procedures for prompt identification and isolation of sick people. • Training employees to recognize the signs, symptoms of the virus and precautions they should take to prevent infection. Prompt reporting of any potential infection will help slow the spread of the virus. • Identifying an isolation area for infected/potentially infected individuals within the worksite or home, to limit contact with other workers or family members. • Discontinuing non-essential travel. • Providing resources and a work environment promoting personal hygiene: tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60 percent alcohol, disinfectants, and disposable towels for workers to clean their work surfaces. • Using personal protective equipment such as gloves, goggles, face shields, face masks, and respiratory protection, when appropriate and in accordance with OSHA PPE and respiratory protection standards.
Bloodborne Pathogen Regulation • In order to minimize the hazards of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens, an employer must implement an exposure control plan for the worksite with details on employee protection measures. • The plan must also describe how an employer will use engineering and work practice controls, personal protective clothing and equipment, employee training, medical surveillance, hepatitis B vaccinations, and other provisions as required by OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030). Engineering controls are the primary means of eliminating or minimizing employee exposure and include the use of safer medical devices, such as needleless devices, shielded needle devices, and plastic capillary tubes. • While performing medical or dental procedures, employers should ensure that appropriate bloodborne pathogen standards are followed when encountering saliva and blood to help minimize the risk of COVID-19 spread to dental/healthcare workers.
Recordkeeping Requirements • OSHA 300 log – this form is used for employers to record all reportable injuries and illnesses that occur in the workplace, where and when they occur, the nature of the case, and the name and job title of the employee who was injured or because ill, and the number of days away from work or on light duty. • On this form the employer records all work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses if they involve: • Death • loss of consciousness • days away from work • restricted work or transfer to another job • medical treatment beyond first aid; or • a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional
Recordkeeping Requirements OSHA Form 300 Log is also used for the employer to record, if work-related: • any needlestick injuries and cuts from sharp objects that are contaminated with another person’s blood or other potentially infectious material (must be entered on the 300 log as an injury without the employee’s name); • occupational hearing loss; • active tuberculosis. OSHA Form 300-A is the summary of work-related injuries and illnesses which is posted in the workplace annually. • OSHA Form 300A is posted for period of three months
Determining if an employee’s infection is work-related How does an employer determine if an employee becoming infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19) is work- related? • Basic Requirement: You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is presumed for exposures or events occurring in the workplace unless an exception applies. STANDARD EXCEPTIONS: • at the time of the injury or illness, the employee was at work as a member of the general public and not as employee such as a visitor; • the injury or illness surfaces at work, but results solely from a non-work-related event or exposure (for example, an employee has a heart attack at work but has a history or heart disease); • the injury or illness results solely from voluntary participation in a wellness program (employee injured while working out company gym); • the injury or illness is the result of eating or drinking or preparing food or drink for personal consumption (such as employee choking while eating lunch); • the injury is the result of an employee doing personal tasks outside or work hours (e.g., while visiting with co-workers after work hours).
Determining if an employee’s infection is work-related STANDARD EXCEPTIONS: • the injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self-medication for a no-work-related condition, or is intentionally self-inflicted. • the injury or illness is caused by a motor vehicle accident and occurs on a company parking lot or company access road while the employee is commuting to or from work. • the illness is the common cold or flu (contagious diseases such as TB, brucellosis, hepatitis A, or the plague are work-related if the employee is infected at work) • the illness is a mental illness.
Recommend
More recommend
