{"id":897394,"date":"2020-04-28T14:53:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T20:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897394"},"modified":"2020-04-28T14:53:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T20:53:48","slug":"osha-guidelines-for-covid-19-in-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/osha-guidelines-for-covid-19-in-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"What OSHA\u2019s New Guidance Means for the Construction Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christopher Moore Sweeney | Cozen O’Connor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, OSHA<\/a> provided standards for recording workplace exposures to COVID-19. These\u00a0standards\u00a0broadly require employers to record COVID-19 illnesses of its employees if three conditions are met:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. it is a \u201cconfirmed\u201d case of COVID-19;<\/li>
  2. the case is \u201cwork-related;\u201d and<\/li>
  3. it meets one or more general recording criteria (e.g., hospitalization, sick days).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In short, OSHA was not treating COVID-19 like a common cold or the flu. Instead, employers in the construction industry may have needed to include almost any confirmed case of COVID-19 on its recordable log. In response to these requirements and the resulting confusion, construction industry groups\u00a0appealed to OSHA\u00a0for more guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On April 10, 2020, OSHA provided an\u00a0Enforcement Memo\u00a0that clarifies and loosens the requirements for employers to have to record COVID-19 infections. John Ho of Cozen O’Connor\u2019s Labor and Employment group issued a\u00a0blog post\u00a0explaining OSHA\u2019s new guidance and providing helpful tips for employers who may still need to record COVID-19 infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    RECORDABLE REQUIREMENTS LOOSENED FOR CONSTRUCTION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    OSHA now treats certain industries differently in terms of requirements for employers. Specifically, employers of workers in the health care industry, emergency response organizations (e.g., EMTs, firefighters, law enforcement), and corrections officers will still need to make work-relatedness determinations pursuant to 29 CFR \u00a7 1904 for COVID-19 infections. For now, employers of workers in all other industries, including the construction industry, are not required to make work-relatedness determinations except in two, more narrow circumstances:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. there is objective evidence that a COVID-19 case may be work related (e.g., a number of cases developing among workers who work closely together); and<\/li>
    2. this objective evidence is reasonably available to employer (e.g., information given to employer by employees or information learned by employer in ordinary course of managing its business and employees).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      OSHA made this clarification specifically because, other than those specific front-line industries, employers \u201cmay have difficulty making determinations about whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so due to exposures at work.\u201d OSHA also stated that this clarification was necessary to \u201chelp employers focus their response efforts on implementing\u00a0good hygiene practices\u00a0in their workplaces and otherwise mitigating COVID-19\u2019s effects, rather than on making difficult work-relatedness decisions in circumstances where there is community transmission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The construction industry is not entirely relieved of any recordable requirements for COVID-19 infections, but this enforcement guidance from OSHA should allow construction companies to focus more on protecting their employees than on investigating infections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Christopher Moore Sweeney | Cozen O’Connor During the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, OSHA provided standards for recording workplace exposures to COVID-19. These\u00a0standards\u00a0broadly require employers to record COVID-19 illnesses of its employees if three conditions are met: it is a \u201cconfirmed\u201d case of COVID-19; the case is \u201cwork-related;\u201d and it meets… Continue reading What OSHA\u2019s New Guidance Means for the Construction Industry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,10895],"tags":[9895,12,11113,11144],"class_list":["post-897394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-osha-osha","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction","tag-covid-19","tag-osha-standards","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat OSHA\u2019s New Guidance Means for the Construction Industry - 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