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Virginia Makes COVID-19 Workplace Safety Standards Permanent
JAN 27, 4:53 PM
Virginia Makes COVID-19 Workplace Safety Standards Permanent
PART OF FULL COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN D.C.
Ally Schweitzer https://twitter.com/allyschweitzer
Last Summer, Virginia became the first U.S. state to adopt new COVID-related workplace health and safety standards. The regulations were temporary, and ended this week. ... But on Wednesday, the state enacted nearly identical standards through at least the end of the health emergency, and possibly permanently. ... The new regulations, approved last week by Gov. Ralph Northam, require all employers in the state to provide personal protective equipment when workers can’t physically distance, close or control access to common areas like lunchrooms, develop safe “return to work” plans for workers recovering from COVID-19, and regularly clean areas with heavy foot traffic, among other measures. Employees who interact with the public must wear masks.
The standards vary for workplaces deemed “low,” “medium,” “high,” or “very high” risk for viral exposure. In high-risk workplaces, employees must be screened for symptoms before each work shift, and employers must inspect their air-handling systems to make sure they’re circulating air safely.
Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board voted earlier this month to make the standards permanent (though they still needed final approval from Northam, which arrived last week). A provision in the standards notes that the Board can reevaluate them after Northam lifts the statewide declaration of emergency. Worker advocates hope that a new federal safety standard is enacted well before the pandemic subsides. ... “This standard Virginia put in place is very specific to COVID-19,” says Debbie Berkowitz with the National Employment Law Project, “and we know at some point the Biden administration will be creating a permanent standard for all aerosol and airborne transmissible diseases.”
President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week instructing the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue revised COVID-19 guidance to employers and to consider implementing new emergency standards no later than March 15. ... The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry adopted the state’s standards in the absence of new federal rules under the Trump administration. Since the pandemic began, OSHA has not issued any new enforceable health and safety requirements for employers.
{snip}
Virginia Makes COVID-19 Workplace Safety Standards Permanent
PART OF FULL COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN D.C.
Ally Schweitzer https://twitter.com/allyschweitzer
Last Summer, Virginia became the first U.S. state to adopt new COVID-related workplace health and safety standards. The regulations were temporary, and ended this week. ... But on Wednesday, the state enacted nearly identical standards through at least the end of the health emergency, and possibly permanently. ... The new regulations, approved last week by Gov. Ralph Northam, require all employers in the state to provide personal protective equipment when workers can’t physically distance, close or control access to common areas like lunchrooms, develop safe “return to work” plans for workers recovering from COVID-19, and regularly clean areas with heavy foot traffic, among other measures. Employees who interact with the public must wear masks.
The standards vary for workplaces deemed “low,” “medium,” “high,” or “very high” risk for viral exposure. In high-risk workplaces, employees must be screened for symptoms before each work shift, and employers must inspect their air-handling systems to make sure they’re circulating air safely.
Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board voted earlier this month to make the standards permanent (though they still needed final approval from Northam, which arrived last week). A provision in the standards notes that the Board can reevaluate them after Northam lifts the statewide declaration of emergency. Worker advocates hope that a new federal safety standard is enacted well before the pandemic subsides. ... “This standard Virginia put in place is very specific to COVID-19,” says Debbie Berkowitz with the National Employment Law Project, “and we know at some point the Biden administration will be creating a permanent standard for all aerosol and airborne transmissible diseases.”
President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week instructing the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue revised COVID-19 guidance to employers and to consider implementing new emergency standards no later than March 15. ... The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry adopted the state’s standards in the absence of new federal rules under the Trump administration. Since the pandemic began, OSHA has not issued any new enforceable health and safety requirements for employers.
{snip}