We are exploring how the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. Because this is a time for us to pull together in our common interest, and we believe knowledge is the key. The OHSA workplace standards for COVID-19 are far reaching. Therefore the best we can do is increase awareness here.
Introducing OSHA’s Workplace Standards under COVID-19
You’ll find a link to the details at the end of this post. When you reach that point, you’ll find they are a logical extension to the Administration’s prior approach. Thus you will find respirator’s added to the personal protective equipment standard, for use when transmission circumstances require it.
The general duty to provide a hazard-free environment also receives an update in the workplace standards to accommodate COVID-19. That’s because infectious materials that can transmit disease now extend to exposure to respiratory secretions, and other body fluids. But how are employers to succeed when governments fail?
Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Discretion
The OSHA recognizes employers in many sectors may have difficulty complying with its amended workplace standards for COVID-19 protection. This includes provision of specific types of respirators, and medical surveillance too. It has therefore introduced enforcement flexibility for certain standards.
The Administration’s countermeasures are in place with the intention of creating work environments that promote a safe, healthy work force. None-the-less, it continues to encourage workers to raise complaints where they feel their rights are under threat.
We face a new era in family and work place relations under the COVID-19 cloud. That’s because tempers might flare easier over incidents that passed unchallenged previously. We are in this together more than our generation may have ever been before. We thus believe the new OSHA requirements make a useful contribution, and we encourage all concerned to work towards achieving them them.
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Preview Image: Safety in the Workplace
