A safety professional with 12 years of experience at pandemic planning at state and federal worksites shared her insight regarding the COVID-19 pandemic during a recent American Society of Safety Professionals Q&A session. Deb Roy, a safety professional for more than 35 years and author of Preparing for a Pandemic: Lessons From H1N1, discussed a variety of […]
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) looks at a potential alternative to N95 respirators in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and had favorable findings. The study, led by a member of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, looked at use of elastomeric half-mask respirators (EHMRs), which […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated disinfecting and social distancing guidance in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The organization provided new guidance regarding workplace cleaning, disinfecting, social distancing and ventilation in response to the evolving COVID-19 situation in the U.S. Social distancing When it comes to social distancing, the CDC recommends establishing […]
Some members of Congress and professional associations have called on OSHA to initiate an emergency, temporary infectious disease regulation due to the coronavirus pandemic. What could an emergency regulation include? One way to find out is to look at one state’s rule that already exists and at the rulemaking that was started on a permanent […]
With many employees working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employers may be wondering about workers’ home offices and OSHA. Well, don’t worry, home offices are not subject to OSHA inspections. OSHA won’t come knocking on the doors to your employees’ homes, looking for all sorts of violations an employer would have little to […]
The 2019 novel coronavirus continues to impact the U.S., and OSHA is telling employers they must track any infections of the illness confirmed to have occurred in the workplace. The agency has released guidance on handling exposure at work, including a reference to recordkeeping and reporting standards for workplace illnesses and injuries. Which OSHA standards […]
Since novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is new to humans, information on how to handle the situation in workplaces keeps evolving. So the best thing to do is to keep up with the experts via the Internet. Here’s a list of online resources: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 website A […]
There’s a lot of information out there on the coronavirus – unfortunately, some of it not accurate. Here’s a resource with all the basics. Download the Safety News Alert Infographic, Fast Facts on Coronavirus (COVID-19) here. Need more information? Here are webinars from Premier Learning Solutions on COVID-19: COVID-19 & Crisis Management: 7 Actions to Apply […]
As the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak continues in the U.S., employers are being confronted with the possibility of facing workers’ comp claims from employees who either contracted the virus at work or during work-related travel. The Washington Department of Labor & Industries announced March 5 that the state is changing its policy around workers’ compensation […]
