The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued interim guidance for enforcing OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements (29 CFR Part 1904) regarding recording cases of COVID-19, according to www.osha.gov.
Under OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness. 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
- 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
In areas where there is ongoing community transmission, employers other than those in the health care industry, emergency response organizations (such as emergency medical, firefighting and law enforcement services) and correctional institutions may have difficulty determining whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so as a result of exposures at work.
Accordingly, 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 a COVID-19 case may be work-related and the evidence was reasonably available to the employer. Employers of workers in the health care industry, emergency response organizations and correctional institutions must continue to make work-relatedness determinations pursuant to 29 CFR Part 1904.
OSHA’s enforcement policy is meant to provide certainty to the regulated community and help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects.
This action from OSHA is in direct response to a letter from the Construction Industry Safety Coalition, of which NRCA is a part. View the letter.
