On June 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency submitted its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for publication in the Federal Register, which sets out new mandatory safety requirements to protect workers from COVID-19. The much anticipated ETS generally only applies to certain healthcare jobs.
The provisions of the ETS come into force immediately after their publication in the federal register. Compliance is required within 14 days of posting, with the exception of physical barrier, ventilation, and training provisions that come into effect within 30 days of posting.
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1. The ETS generally applies to all workplace environments in which an employee provides health or health support services, with the exception of the following:
2. First aid measures by an employee who is not a licensed healthcare provider; 3. The dispensing of prescriptions by pharmacists in retail stores; 4. Outpatient (outpatient) care facilities outside the hospital, in which all non-employees are examined before entry and people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are not allowed to enter these facilities; 5. Well-defined outpatient (outpatient) hospital care facilities in which all employees are fully vaccinated and all non-employees are examined prior to entry and people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are not allowed to enter these facilities; 6. Home care facilities where all employees are fully vaccinated and all non-employees are screened prior to entry and people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are absent; Health support services that are not provided in a health facility (e.g., off-site laundry, off-site medical billing); or 7. Telehealth services provided outside of an environment in which direct patient care is provided.
When a healthcare facility is embedded in a non-medical facility (e.g., a medical clinic in a manufacturing facility, a walk-in clinic in a retail setting), the ETS only applies to the embedded healthcare facility and not to the rest of the physical location. If rescue workers or other approved healthcare providers enter a non-medical facility to provide healthcare services, this ETS only applies to the provision of healthcare services by that employee.
In addition, the ETS provides that fully vaccinated workers in well-defined areas where there is no reasonable expectation that a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 will be present are exempt from masking and other PPE, distancing and barrier requirements are otherwise prescribed as described below.
Overview of the most important requirements for insured employers in the healthcare sector
Insured healthcare employers must meet certain safety requirements aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. These requirements include, but are not limited to:
1, development and implementation of a COVID-19 plan that appoints a safety coordinator, addresses employer-assessed hazards with the involvement of non-managerial staff and, among other things, contains guidelines and procedures to minimize COVID-19 transmission In particular, the ETS advises that the OSHA website provides a COVID-19 model plan, however no such COVID-19 model map is available online as of the date of this warning. 2. In facilities that provide direct patient care, screen patients, visitors and other non-workers, limit and monitor access points to facilities that provide direct patient care, and implement patient management strategies. The ETS also promotes the use of telehealth services, where available and appropriate. 3. Compliance with CDC Guidelines on Standard and Conveyance-Based Precautions. 4. Provision of personal protective equipment (PPE). More specifically, providing and ensuring that every employee wears a face mask (as defined in the ETS) when they are indoors and manning a vehicle with other people for work purposes, providing and ensuring that employees wear respirators and other PPE when they are People with suspicion of or. exposed to confirmed COVID-19 and for aerosol generating processes on a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. 5. Limiting staff presence during aerosol generating procedures on a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 conducted in an airborne infection isolation room, if available, in addition to other cleaning and disinfection requirements. 6. Keep everyone at least 6 feet apart when indoors. 7. Installation of cleanable or disposable barriers at permanent workplaces in areas without patient care where employees are not at least six feet apart from other people. 8. Follow CDC guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in patient care areas, residents’ rooms, and for medical devices and appliances. In other areas, follow procedures for cleaning high-contact surfaces, and if an employer knows a COVID-19 positive person has been on the job within 24 hours, follow the CDC’s cleaning and disinfection guidelines. 9. Ensure that any employer-owned or controlled existing HVAC systems are used properly and that air filters meet a specified minimum rating if the employer’s ventilation system allows it. 10. Carrying out daily health screenings for employees, asking employees to report positive or suspected COVID-19 cases or symptoms, notifying certain employees of positive COVID-19 cases, following the requirements for removing employees who suspect or Have confirmed COVID-19 cases, and for employers with 10+ employees who provide medical removal (i.e. paid vacation) benefits to workers who must be in isolation or quarantine. 11. Allow adequate time and paid vacation for vaccinations and vaccination side effects. 12. Train all employees to understand the transmission of COVID-19, tasks and situations that could lead to infection, and relevant policies and procedures. 13. Inform workers of their rights to retaliation and anti-discrimination protection under the ETS. 14. Keeping an up-to-date log of all cases of COVID-19 among employees (whether professional or otherwise) from all employers with more than 10 employees and providing records, including the COVID-19 plan and certain log information, to employees and their representatives by the end of the next business day upon request. 15. Reporting work-related COVID-19 deaths and inpatient hospital stays to OSHA. 16. Requirements for the implementation of ETS ‘mini respiratory protection program, where healthcare employers provide employees with respirators instead of face masks or allow employees to wear their own respirators in place of face masks.
Next steps for employers
Healthcare employers should immediately take steps to confirm whether the ETS applies to all or part of their jobs and begin updating existing COVID-19 policies and procedures to meet the ETS requirements. As an example only, the ETS includes definitions of terms such as “COVID-19 symptoms” that may require revision of existing policies and plans. The ETS specifies when employees are not allowed to enter or leave the workplace due to COVID-19 symptoms, diagnosis or close contact, as well as the time and conditions for return. Special requirements apply when employees from different employers share the same physical location and when employees enter private homes as part of their employment.
In focusing on the necessary updates, there are some notable changes due to the ETS that require special planning. As an an example:
- Since some of the exemptions from employer coverage depend on all workers being fully vaccinated and in other cases certain ETS requirements for insured employers do not apply to fully vaccinated workers, employers may consider vaccinating all workers or confirming vaccination status. Indeed, an increasing number of employers may require vaccinations in light of the recent dismissal of a large-scale employee lawsuit alleging that the Bridges v. Houston Methodist Hospital were challenged.
Employers who make use of these exemptions must, among other things, consider how to determine which workers are vaccinated to protect confidential medical information. This issue was highlighted in our previous warning.
In addition, employers who require employees to be vaccinated must respect the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation due to disability, pregnancy or religious exoneration. In particular, the ETS provides that if an employer is to accommodate an employee who cannot be vaccinated in an appropriate manner in a manner that does not expose the employee to the dangers of COVID-19, certain exemptions may still apply, including vaccination of all employees.
- If employers remove an employee from work due to the need for isolation or quarantine due to the requirements of the ETS and they are not working remotely or in isolation, the ETS requires continuation of services and regular wages of up to $ 1,400 per week and for employers with fewer than 500 employees, a reduced amount of up to $ 200 per day from the third week of paid vacation. Employers can offset these obligations with compensation employees receive from other sources, such as government or locally paid COVID-19 vacation or employer-provided paid sick leave. In addition, if an employee returns to work following a COVID-19 job relocation, they must not incur any adverse action as a result of their removal, including the impact on their previous job.
- The employer’s notification obligations to employees (who do not wear a respiratory protective device or any other required PPE) about COVID-19 exposure in the workplace (as well as to third party employers in the workplace) are very detailed and go beyond those who have “close contact” to include those who were in the well-defined part of the workplace where the potential transfer took place. The ETS provides a tool for notifying model employers that can be used for these purposes. It is important that employers are not allowed to provide the name, contact details or occupation of an employee
source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/osha-issues-emergency-temporary-standard-for-the-healthcare-industry/
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