OSHA ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE & INTERIM RESPONSE PLAN
Capell & Howard Attorneys at Law have shared the following information.
Enforcement Guidance The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued interim guidance for enforcing OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements for recording cases of COVID-19. ▪ See https://www.osha.gov/memos/2020-04-10/enforcement-guidance-recording-casescoronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19
Under OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness, and employers are responsible for recording cases of COVID-19, if the case:
▪ Is confirmed as a COVID-19 illness; ▪ Is work-related as defined by 29 CFR 1904.5; and
▪ Involves one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7, such as medical treatment beyond first aid or days away from work.
▪ See https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.5. In areas where there is ongoing community transmission, employers (other than those in healthcare and emergency medical, firefighting and law enforcement services) may have difficulty figuring out whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so due to exposures at work. Therefore, until further notice, OSHA will NOT enforce its recordkeeping requirements to require these employers to make work-relatedness determinations for COVID-19 cases, except where:
▪ There is objective evidence that a COVID-19 case may be work-related; and
▪ The evidence was reasonably available to the employer. Employers of workers in the healthcare industry, emergency response organizations and correctional institutions must continue to make work-relatedness determinations pursuant to 29 CFR Part 1904.
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