The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has clarified employers’ responsibility to track workplace COVID-19 virus infections.
OSHA’s recordkeeping rule requires employers to include in federally mandated logs any work-related illness that leads to a worker missing a day or more on the job or receiving medical treatment more substantial than first-aid. The new guidance says that only employers in the health-care industry, emergency response organizations such as police and fire departments, and correctional institutions will have to determine whether employees contracted the virus on the job.
Construction contractors, manufacturers, and other employers won’t have to make that determination unless there’s “objective evidence that a Covid-19 case may be work-related” and “the evidence was reasonably available to the employer.” OSHA’s new guidance says objective evidence could include “a number of cases developing among workers who work closely together without an alternative explanation.”
OSHA had announced in early March that coronavirus cases would have to be recorded. Industry groups, including construction organizations, said it would be too unwieldy to determine if an employee became sick at a work site or contracted the disease elsewhere.
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | Jan 25, 2019
AEC professionals should push for net zero projects
Educate and lead clients to more sustainable choices, says LEED fellow.
Codes and Standards | Jan 24, 2019
OSHA unaffected by federal government shutdown
Agency fully funded for first nine months of 2019.
Codes and Standards | Jan 23, 2019
Hackers can easily take control of construction cranes
Potential for serious harm is real, say researchers.
Codes and Standards | Jan 22, 2019
Initiative will introduce open-source software for commercial and public building retrofits
Energy analysis tool will identify energy efficiency opportunities.
Codes and Standards | Jan 18, 2019
Texas city sues developer over changes in $1 billion mixed-use project
Revised plan eliminated 8-acre lagoon, trolley, show fountain, and reduced retail space.
Codes and Standards | Jan 17, 2019
First resilience benchmarks for U.S. communities released
Provides way to evaluate current state of resilience and guidance for areas of improvement.
Codes and Standards | Jan 16, 2019
California mass timber building competition kicks off January 15
Competition will award $500,000 in grants to teams who design innovative buildings.
Codes and Standards | Jan 15, 2019
Hazard mitigation provisions in codes save lives and protect property
New NIBS study finds that adopting 2018 Intl. Codes generate $11 benefit for every $1 invested.
Codes and Standards | Jan 10, 2019
Ontario building first to achieve zero-carbon designation by Canada GBC
Geothermal heating, living wall among notable features.
Codes and Standards | Jan 9, 2019
Policymakers need to act to alleviate affordable housing crunch
Moody’s economist says costs including mortgage rates worsening situation.