The National Safety Council (NSC) will lead a new task force that will guide employers through the process of resuming work in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Safe Actions For Employee Returns (SAFER) task force includes Fortune 500 companies, safety organizations, government agencies and trade associations, including:
- American Chemistry Council
- American Industrial Hygiene Association
- American Society of Safety Professionals
- American Trucking Association
- Grainger
- McDonald’s
- NASA
- NIOSH-CDC
- Owens Corning
- Uber
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- US Steel, and
- Walgreens.
The task force will issue recommendations and guidance for employers, including small and mid-size companies.
“The team that’s gotten together … will really be focusing on what we’re calling playbooks – instructions for how employers can come back into operations safely,” Lorraine Martin, CEO of the NSC, told Safety Compliance Alert in an interview.
“This includes policy and procedure templates, recommendations they can consider for their employees with healthcare, mental health, with all the things that go along with working through the pandemic today,” Martin told SCA.
The NSC says guidance will include general and sector-specific playbooks, and will help align worker safety with business objectives. Resources will also be risk-specific.
“The manner in which employers bring people back to work will define our national response to the pandemic,” said Martin. “With SAFER, we are confident we’re bringing the best minds together to ensure Americans have the safest transition back to work so we can truly flatten the curve and enable people to live their fullest lives.”
You can access the SAFER webpage here, and the NSC’s coronavirus webpage here.
