Backend Category: Coronavirus

Alston & Bird have released their April 6 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) recently released guidance to its regional administrators outlining enforcement discretion to permit the use of filtering facepiece respirators and air-purifying elastomeric respirators that are certified under certain standards of other countries or jurisdictions. The guidelines also address enforcement discretion to permit use when the equipment was previously certified under the standards of other countries or jurisdictions, but are beyond their manufacturer’s recommended shelf life. Essentially, OSHA compliance officers are being directed to verify that employers are:

• Making a good faith effort to use the most appropriate respiratory protection available;
• Ensuring that their respirator users are performing appropriate user seal checks;
• Training their respirator users to discard respirators with compromised structural and/or functional integrity:
• Inspecting, or requiring their respirator users to visually inspect the respirators for defects;
• Avoiding co-mingling of products from different categories of equipment; and
• Training employees on the procedures for the sequence of donning/doffing to prevent self-contamination.

OSHA ENFORCEMENT GUIDANCE

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released guidelines to help combat supply shortages of disposable N95 filtering face piece respirators. The agency’s guidelines address alternatives to N95s, and extended use and reuse of the respirators. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is the research arm of OSHA, also released N95 guidelines addressing extended use and reuse of the respirators, specifically for healthcare settings. The CDC/NIOSH guidelines are much more detailed than OSHA’s guidelines. Their recommendations are intended for use by professionals who manage respiratory protection programs in healthcare institutions to protect health care workers from job-related risks of exposure to infectious respiratory illnesses. However, the guidelines provide excellent information for anyone considering extended use or reuse of N95s. For example, the guidelines make the case that extended use is preferred over reuse of the respirators because extended use limits the number of times the respirators will be touched.  The guidelines address the risks of extended use and reuse, and provide independent sets of recommendations for extended use, and reuse.

OSHA GUIDELINES

CDC/NIOSH GUIDELINES

Whenever it’s feasible, it’s best to hire a reputable third party to perform facility cleaning and disinfection services. However, if it will be necessary for you or someone else from your company to perform the cleaning and disinfection service, the following guidelines may help protect that person from exposure to COVID-19. The best way to help protect yourself and others is to have all surfaces that may have been contaminated cleaned and disinfected. Cleaning refers to the removal of dirt and impurities. Disinfecting refers to the use of chemicals to kill the virus.

LEARN MORE

MCAA developed a best practices guidance document to help protect mechanical construction and service workers from COVID-19 exposure. MCAA and the United Association partnered with several industry experts to gather all facts and proper procedures concerning this virus. Because MCAA members are using the safety talk for worker training, MCAA developed a 20-question multiple choice test and accompanying answer key to help members document that the training occurred, and that trainees understand the training content.

MCAA SAFETY TALK: COVID-19
MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST
ANSWER KEY

With the number of reported cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) increasing, governors in various states are taking varying measures to reduce the spread of the virus. In some states, construction is still considered an “essential business,” whereas in others, construction can only continue for “emergency repairs” or the “construction of health care facilities.” Across the board, however, the message is clear that proper precautions must be taken on job sites in accordance with the requirements and recommendations of the CDC. Unfortunately, not everyone is following these rules and are requiring construction companies to continue to work without a formal exemption and without the implementation of rules and regulations that help facilitate social distancing to the detriment of your employees’ health and safety.

Cohen Seglias’ Construction Contracts & Risk Management Group prepared sample notice letters for use on jobs where contractors and subcontractors are still ordered to work either in violation of shutdown orders or under unsafe work conditions that are contrary to the CDC guidelines.

Also, with many companies still bidding and entering into contracts for new work, Cohen Seglias is providing sample force majeure language that covers pandemics such as this as an unforeseen event entitling you to an extension of time and an increase in price caused by any resultant delays.

Understand that these forms may need to be revised to fit your particular circumstances.

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