OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard

The White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (ORIA) finally announced the completed review of the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for COVID-19 on June 9, 2021.

The very next day, June 10, 2021, OSHA released the COVID-19 ETS on its website announcing that the new standard would be restricted to the healthcare industry while also providing updated guidance to all other industries on protecting their unvaccinated employees.

Applicability and Exclusions

The ETS establishes new requirements that aim to protect workers from exposure and applies to most workplace settings that have employees that provide health care service and support services. The goal of the ETS is protecting unvaccinated workers that face the highest exposure possibility from working in health care settings that have confirmed and suspected patients being treated for COVID-19.

The ETS is applicable to professions in health care services and support services field.  The new standard’s coverage is for doctors, nurses, emergency responders, nursing homes/assisted living facilities workers, home healthcare workers and employees who work in the ambulatory care setting where suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients are treated.

The types of workers that are specifically excluded from the ETS’s scope of coverage are pharmacists in retail settings, telehealth workers that have no direct patient contact, healthcare support workers not working in a healthcare setting, home health care workers that are fully vaccinated with pre-screened clients, non-hospital ambulatory care settings with vaccinated employees and pre screened patients, fully vaccinated workers in a well-defined hospital ambulatory care setting that screens all people suspected to having COVID-19, and employee’s who are not licensed healthcare provides giving first aid.

Key Requirements for Employers

-         Conduct hazard assessments and implement COVID-19 site plan for each workplace.

-         Limit employee contact with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients to essential workers and preform procedures in airborne infection isolation room (AIIR) if possible.

-         Keep employees at least 6 feet apart from all other people when indoors.

-         Installation of cleanable and or disposable solid barriers at fixed workstations in non-patient area when employees cannot have a 6ft distance from others.

-         Clean and disinfect surfaces and equipment in accordance with CDC Guidelines in patient care areas, resident rooms, and for medical devices and equipment. Also, clean high touch surfaces and equipment in all other areas at least one time per day.

-         Employer owned or controlled HVAC systems are used properly and that air filters are rated with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of 13 or higher.

-         Screen employees before each workday and shift.

-         Screen patients, clients, residents, delivery people and all other non-employees entering the setting for symptoms of COVID-19.

-         Develop and implement policies and procedures to abide by the Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions in accordance with CDC guidelines.

-         Provide and ensure employees wear respirators and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for exposure to people suspected or confirmed of having COVID-19 and aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs).

-         Provide and ensure employees wear facemasks when indoors and when in a vehicle with another person for work purposes.

-         Notify certain employees if a person who has been in the workplace has tested positive for COVID-19.

-         Remove employees who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19, certain COVID-19 symptoms, or have had close contact to a person who is COVID-19 positive in the workplace or elsewhere.

-         Provide reasonable time and paid leave for vaccinations and vaccine side effects (tax credit for employers with less than 500 employees).

-         Train employees on workplace policies and procedures regarding COVID-19 in understandable terms and language so they completely comprehend them.

-         Record all employee cases of COVID-19 on a log without regard to occupational exposure. Report work-related COVID-19 fatalities to OSHA within 8 hours of employer knowledge and work-related COVID-19 in-patient hospitalizations within 24 hours.

If you have any questions regarding COVID-19 and getting your workplace re-opened please contact us today! One of our Industrial Hygiene and Safety Professionals are happy to help!