The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released updated COVID-19 workplace guidance. Issued earlier in January, the safety guidance helped employers implement a coronavirus prevention program and identify workplace exposure risks. Subsequently, on June 10th, 2021, OSHA’s updates focus mainly on unvaccinated workers. Previously, in April 2021, OSHA released a list of the agency’s ten most frequently cited standards for Fiscal Year 2020.

Overview of the Previous Guidance

Overall, the OSHA release provides guidance and recommendations and outlines existing safety and health standards. Generally, OSHA provided the recommendations to assist employers in providing a safe and healthful workplace.

The most critical part of the guidance is the subject of coronavirus prevention programs. Explicitly, OSHA states that these programs are the most effective way to reduce the spread of the virus. Presently, the OSHA guidance recommends several essential elements in a prevention program:

  • Conduct a hazard assessment.
  • Identify control measures to limit the spread of the virus.
  • Adopt policies for employee absences that don’t punish workers as a way to encourage potentially infected workers to remain home.
  • Ensure that coronavirus policies and procedures are understandable for both English and non-English speaking workers.
  • Implement protections from retaliation for workers who raise coronavirus-related concerns.

Additionally, the guidance includes measures for limiting the coronavirus’s spread, including:

  • ensuring infected or potentially infected people are not in the workplace;
  • implementing and following physical distancing protocols;
  • utilizing surgical masks or cloth face coverings;
  • properly using personal protective equipment;
  • improving ventilation;
  • encouraging good hygiene; and
  • performing routine cleaning.

New Additions to the Guidance

As a result of the recent changes, the updated COVID-19 workplace guidance now includes the following key points:

  • Employers should now focus protections on unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers; and
  • COVID-19 vaccinations should be encouraged in all workplaces.

Also, the updated release includes links to additional guidance with the most up-to-date content involving workplace COVID-19 prevention.

Employer Takeaways

In conclusion, employers should know that the updated COVID-19 workplace guidance is not a standard or regulation. Therefore, it creates no new legal obligations. It only contains recommendations as well as descriptions of existing mandatory safety and health standards. In summary, the recommendations are advisory in nature, informational in content, and will assist employers in recognizing and abating hazards. However, it must be remembered that employers are generally responsible for providing safe workplaces under OSHA’s General Duty Clause. Given that, failure to comply with the Clause could lead to fines and penalties.