Fri Jan 29, 2021, 05:44 PM

OSHA Offers New Virus Safety Guidance for Employers

NBC4Washington
By Joseph Pisani

President Joe Biden's administration released new workplace guidelines Friday that signaled a more proactive approach to protecting workers from the coronavirus.

The new guidance from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration seeks to protect all types of workers, not just ones who are deemed to be at higher risk of contracting the virus depending on where they work.

It also asks employers to shield workers from retaliation if they complain about conditions and sets up ways for them to voice complaints anonymously. And it wants employers to give workers a bigger say in developing safety protocols.
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Much of the guidelines released Friday are similar to ones from the Trump administration. And many workplaces have already adopted the guidelines, such as keeping workers at least 6 feet away from each other and having them wear face masks. Like the previous guidance, they can't be enforced by the OSHA.

More at link

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/osha-offers-new-virus-safety-guidance-for-employers/2555651/

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3 replies	Author	Time	Post
OSHA Offers New Virus Safety Guidance for Employers (Original post)	Wicked Blue	Jan 2021	OP
No enforcement. Not worth the paper it's written on.	onecaliberal	Jan 2021	#1
All The Big Work Sites Around Here...	ProfessorGAC	Jan 2021	#2
This is an important thing	genxlib	Jan 2021	#3

Response to Wicked Blue (Original post)

Fri Jan 29, 2021, 05:47 PM

onecaliberal (28,681 posts)

1. No enforcement. Not worth the paper it's written on.

It’s cute how the government thinks our employers protect us. They can’t even protect the people in the congress.

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Response to Wicked Blue (Original post)

Fri Jan 29, 2021, 05:52 PM

ProfessorGAC (56,758 posts)

2. All The Big Work Sites Around Here...

...have been doing what's described for 9 months.
I live near the warehouse center of the Midwest, then there's a refinery, a few chemical plants, a couple plastics plants, an food grade oils plant (their biggest product is an all-natural butter flavored corn oil), and a pharma plant that makes vitamins and antibiotics.
I know somebody who works in almost all of them and they all wear masks if not eating, lunch times are staggered so distance can be kept in that room.
A couple had unfixable issues, like a control room with 3 people where it isn't possible to stay 6' apart all the time. Thankfully that hasn't been a spoiler because none of them had had outbreaks.
So, they're doing something effective, and these OSHA guidelines read a lot like what they've done.
Of course, that won't apply to every workplace.

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Response to Wicked Blue (Original post)

Fri Jan 29, 2021, 05:54 PM

genxlib (5,218 posts)

3. This is an important thing

This goes hand in hand with the concept of whether to give Companies liability protection.

This establishes a standard of care.

Meet these guidelines and you should be protected from frivolous law suits.

Violate these guidelines and you should be held accountable by worker lawsuits.

In large parts, this is what regulation is for. It sets a standard for what is acceptable or not.

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