Michigan, Oregon ramp up COVID-19 safety plans | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

Dump Trucks Columbus OH Insight:

Michigan was the second state to implement emergency rules in response to the pandemic, preceded by Virginia. Earlier this month, Oregon became the third state to provide emergency guidance when its OSHA updated its temporary rule addressing COVID-19 workplace risks. Guidance for construction industry employers in the state includes:

• Screening of employees and visitors to the site.
• Physical distancing measures.
• Reorganization of workflow when possible (encouraged but not mandated).
• The use of masks, face coverings and face shields when physical distance cannot be maintained.

The agency does not require construction workers to wear a face mask when wearing a face shield but encourages it. 

Michigan, Oregon and Virginia have instituted their own COVID-19-related emergency standards and plans in the absence of a national standard from federal OSHA. The AFL-CIO took OSHA to court in an attempt to force the safety agency to create a national emergency standard in the wake of the pandemic, but a federal judge threw out the case. 

OSHA and opponents of the rule maintained that the information around the novel coronavirus has been fluid and that it would be difficult to write a rule given those constant changes. Experts have told Construction Dive in the past that lack of a federal standard does not prevent OSHA from citing employers under the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which requires employers to maintain a workplace free of recognized hazards. 

This month, however, OSHA issued guidance on the most frequently cited of its standards when it comes to COVID-19 violations. In addition to the General Duty Clause, they are: 

• Respiratory protection (1910.134).
• Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Subpart 1904).
• Personal Protective Equipment (1910.132).

The most-violated standard was 1910.134(e)(1), which is a failure on the part of the employer to provide a medical evaluation before a worker was fit-tested or used a respirator. That was followed by other violations related to medical evaluations and fit testing for respirators.