OHSA Presents New COVID-19 Guidelines and Restrictions Addressing Workplace Ventilation and Safety for Employers

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Throughout the pandemic this year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been criticized for lax regulations in several industries including meatpacking. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic through October 29th, 2020, OSHA has issued citations from 179 inspections for violations of work safety, and penalties totaling $2,496,768. Some of the violations include failure to: 

implement a written respiratory protection program, report an injury, illness, or fatality, provide medical evaluation, and training on the correct use of personal protective equipment. 

A complaint was filed in April describing the insufficient precautions at a Maid-Rite meatpacking plant in Dunmore, PA. The company failed to notify workers about the potential exposure to COVID, and OSHA designated that meatpacking facilities to be only “medium risk” and would not rush to conduct a formal inspection. Because of this OSHA has come under intense criticism this year, and a lawsuit from Maid-Rite was filed in July. 

In response to this, OSHA has issued guidance and a one-page document to help employers understand which regulations are cited most during coronavirus-related inspections. The guidance includes a description of the violations and available resources to better ensure that employers are adequately protecting workers. 

OSHA also published new guidance on ventilation in the workspace, which recommends that employers work with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) professionals to improve ventilation in a building to lower the potential risk of COVID-19 exposure.  Some of the tips to improve ventilation that OSHA recommends includes:

  • Encourage workers to stay home if they are sick

  • Remove personal fans to prevent blowing air from one person to another worker 

  • Open windows or other sources of fresh air if possible 

  • Increase the HVAC outdoor air intake 

  • Ensure exhaust fans in restrooms are fully functional and set to always remain on.