Backend Category: Coronavirus

Several great questions came out of MCAA’s Webinar #8: COVID-19 OSHA Enforcement Preparation, which was presented on April 17, 2020. See those questions and the answers provided by attorney and presenter Adele Abrams.

Strategies to manage your workforce to come out stronger in recovery

The recent COVID outbreak has created unprecedented human capital challenges for the construction industry, especially as to how owners and contractors manage their workforce in the context of project suspensions and early termination of contracts. Balancing the required adjustments in the workplace with HR policies, while tackling talent retention, workforce planning and knowledge management is therefore critical to recovery efforts and building resiliency.

This webinar features the key challenges currently disrupting organizations in the construction industry and presents several recommendations to help you overcome workforce management challenges and envision the workforce of the future in anticipation of a post-pandemic rebound.

Speakers include Ryan Isherwood, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal (Houston); Riz Shah, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal (Washington, DC) and Mike Pappas, Associate Director, CII (Austin).

When: Friday, April 24, 1:00 p.m. Central

Alston & Bird have released their April 20 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.

Alston & Bird have released their April 17 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) respiratory protection standard requires respirators used by workers to be certified by OSHA’s research arm, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). However, that requirement has been suspended temporarily due to a shortage of NIOSH-certified N95 respirators in the United States. OSHA, in agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recently released guidance to their regional administrators outlining enforcement discretion to permit the use of filtering facepiece respirators (FFR) certified under certain standards of other countries or jurisdictions.

The FDA states on its website, “The FDA concluded, based on the totality of scientific evidence available, that certain imported respirators that are not NIOSH-approved are appropriate to protect the public health or safety.” However, only specified types/models of foreign made respirators are permissible. Make sure that what you are ordering is permissible by viewing TABLE 1 in the appendix of OSHA’s compliance directive on the subject.

To comply with OSHA’s requirements while using foreign made respirators, be sure to:

• Make a good-faith effort to provide and ensure workers use the most appropriate respiratory protection available for the hazards against which workers need to be protected. This should be accomplished through, in this order:
  • Implementing the hierarchy of controls in an effort first to eliminate or substitute out workplace hazards, then using engineering controls, administrative controls, and safe work practices to prevent worker exposures to respiratory hazards.
  • Prioritizing efforts to acquire and use equipment in the following order:
    • NIOSH-certified equipment; then
    • Equipment certified in accordance with standards of other countries or jurisdictions except the People’s Republic of China, unless equipment certified in accordance with standards of the People’s Republic of China is manufactured by a NIOSH certificate holder[6]; then
    • Equipment certified in accordance with standards of the People’s Republic of China, the manufacturer of which is not a NIOSH certificate holder[6]; then
    • Facemasks (e.g., medical masks, procedure masks).
  • Prioritizing efforts to acquire and use equipment that has not exceeded its manufacturer’s recommended shelf before allowing workers to use equipment that is beyond its manufacturer’s recommended shelf life. Equipment used beyond its manufacturer’s recommended shelf life must be used in accordance with OSHA’s April 3, 2020 memorandum.
  • Prioritizing efforts to use equipment that has not exceeded its intended service life (e.g., disposable FFRs used for the first time) before implementing protocols for extended use or reuse of equipment. Extended use or reuse of equipment should follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators.
  • Using homemade masks or improvised mouth and nose covers only as a last resort (i.e., when no respirators or facemasks are available). Improvised masks are not personal protective equipment and, ideally, should be used with a face shield to cover the front and sides of the face.  When this measure is the only resort, refer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance.
• Ensure users perform a user seal check each time they don a respirator, regardless of whether it is a NIOSH-certified device or device certified under standards of other countries or jurisdictions, and do not use a respirator on which a user cannot perform a successful user seal check.  See 29 CFR § 1910.134, Appendix B-1, User Seal Check Procedures.[7]
• Train workers to understand that if the structural and functional integrity of any part of the respirator is compromised, it should be discarded, and that if a successful user seal check cannot be performed, another respirator should be tried to achieve a successful user seal check.
• Visually inspect, or ensure that workers visually inspect, the FFRs to determine if the structural and functional integrity of the respirator has been compromised.  Over time, components such as the straps, nose bridge, and nose foam material may degrade, which can affect the quality of the fit and seal.
• Avoid co-mingling products from different categories of equipment. NIOSH-certified equipment, equipment that was previously NIOSH-certified but that has surpassed its manufacturer’s recommended shelf life, equipment certified under standards of other countries or jurisdictions, and equipment that was previously certified under standards of other countries or jurisdictions but that has surpassed its manufacturer’s recommended shelf life should be stored separately.
• Train employees on the procedures for the sequence of donning/doffing to prevent self-contamination.

Where to Find Permissible Foreign Made Respirators

MCAA is compiling a list of places where you can order permissible foreign made respirators. As we learn of additional sources, we will provide updates to the list below. If you are aware of an additional source, please let Pete Chaney know.

• 70esolutions
• NEFCO

Alston & Bird have released their April 15 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.

Alston & Bird have released their April 13 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released enforcement guidance for recording cases of COVID-19. Until further notice, OSHA will not enforce its record-keeping requirements to require employers to make work-relatedness determinations for COVID-19 cases, except where: (1) There is objective evidence that a COVID-19 case may be work-related; and (2) The evidence was reasonably available to the employer.

READ MORE

Alston & Bird have released their April 10 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.

MCAA’s long-time partner Milwaukee Tool has produced a COVID-19 Resource Guide for MCAA members. The guide addresses tool cleaning, operations protocols, digital tool training, shipping and inventory updates, Milwaukee Tool’s #TOGETHERweSTAND campaign and how to stay in contact with Milwaukee Tool. The guide and its accompanying sample documents, including a Health Screening Planning Form, Health Pre-Screening Questionnaire and Potential Considerations for Documenting Procedures are all available for your use. MCAA thanks Milwaukee Tool for the long-standing partnership, and for sharing these resources with MCAA.

MILWAUKEE TOOL COVID-19 RESOURCE GUIDE

HEALTH SCREENING PLANNING FORM

HEALTH PRE-SCREENING QUESTIONNAIRE

POTENTIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR DOCUMENTING PROCEDURES

The Small Business Administration (SBA), in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, intends to provide timely additional guidance to address borrower and lender questions concerning the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), established by section 1102 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act or the Act). Borrowers and lenders may rely on the guidance provided in this document as SBA’s interpretation of the CARES Act and of the Paycheck Protection Program Interim Final Rule (“PPP Interim Final Rule”). Published on April 6, 2020.

The Colorado Association of Mechanical and Plumbing Contractors has shared their Paid Leave Eligibility chart with MCAA’s members to help determine an employee’s paid sick leave, paid family medical leave and unemployment insurance eligibility. This chart has been reviewed by CAMPC’s legal team.

On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued temporary regulations implementing the paid leave requirements under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The DOL has also been adding new guidance to its more informal Questions & Answers webpage. Alston & Bird has been monitoring the DOL webpage, and shared their Updated FAQs for Employers Regulated by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Alston & Bird have released their April 8 COVID-19 update, including the latest news on emergency funding, administrative and regulatory actions, workplace and home issues, and many other topics, as well as to links to all their past updates.

Due to the shortage of N95 respirators the CDC recently released guidance on the use of cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The cloth face coverings are not nearly as protective as N95 respirators, and should never be used in place of them in high risk situations/applications. The CDC believes that cloth face coverings are more likely to help protect the general public when people infected by the virus are wearing them than they are to help protect non-infected people wearing them for protection against potentially infected persons. The guidance covers:

• How to properly wear cloth face coverings;
• Recommendation on home made cloth face coverings;
• How cloth face coverings should be cleaned and sterilized; and
• How to safely remove a used cloth face covering from the user’s face.

CDC GUIDANCE