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 | Nov 29, 2016
New OSHA rules to reduce fall and trip hazards
Employers can choose from a variety of fall protection systems.
Codes and Standards | Nov 29, 2016
Seattle imposes new construction regulation to address rat problem
The city ranks first in U.S. in rat population.
Codes and Standards | Nov 28, 2016
Construction groups sue New York City over crane safety regulation
The rule bans cranes from operating when wind exceeds 30 mph.
Codes and Standards | Nov 28, 2016
Marines plan first net zero energy military base
The Albany, Ga., site will have ground source heat pumps and a biomass generator.
Codes and Standards | Nov 18, 2016
Mahesh Ramanujam takes reins as U.S. Green Building Council President and CEO
Ramanujam brings his tech and business consulting background to the post.
Codes and Standards | Nov 18, 2016
Canada GBC launching Zero Carbon Buildings Initiative
First step toward Zero Carbon Building Standard.
Codes and Standards | Nov 17, 2016
Santa Monica, Calif., passes historic net-zero ordinance
Includes more stringent commercial, multifamily building standards.
Codes and Standards | Nov 14, 2016
Six more states approve legal marijuana, creating opportunities for developers
Federal prohibition complicates the picture.
Codes and Standards | Nov 14, 2016
Los Angeles voters approve billions to tackle traffic and homelessness
The approved measures will create new rail lines and permanent housing.
Codes and Standards | Nov 9, 2016
NRMCA updates environmental impacts of concrete
The EPD now includes 88 companies, 72 mixes.