New emergency Cal/OSHA requirements for businesses

Most California businesses are required to meet the new COVID-19 infection prevention’s Temporary Emergency Standards from Cal/OSHA approved by state legislators on Nov. 30, 2020. This order includes all businesses with the following exceptions:

Places of employment with one employee who does not have contact with other persons; employees working from home; and employees when covered by section 5199 (Aerosol Transmissible Diseases).

The new requirements for businesses include establishing, implementing, and maintaining an effective written COVID-19 Prevention Program that includes:

• Identifying and evaluating employee exposures to COVID-19 health hazards.
• Implementing effective policies and procedures to correct unsafe and unhealthy conditions (such as safe physical distancing, modifying the workplace and staggering work schedules).
• Providing and ensuring workers wear face coverings to prevent exposure in the workplace.
• Providing effective training and instruction to employees on how COVID-19 is spread, infection prevention techniques, and information regarding COVID-19-related benefits that affected employees may be entitled to under applicable federal, state, or local laws.

When there are multiple COVID-19 infections and COVID-19 outbreaks, employers must follow the requirements for testing and notifying public health departments of workplace outbreaks (three or more cases in a workplace in a 14-day period) and major outbreaks (20 or more cases within a 30-day period).

The temporary order requires employers to offer COVID-19 testing at no cost to their employees during their working hours who had potential COVID-19 exposure in the workplace and provide them with the information on benefits.

A new requirement also obligates employers to contact the local health department immediately, but no longer than 48 hours after learning of three or more COVID-19 cases, to obtain guidance on preventing the further spread of COVID-19 within their workplace.

Employers must maintain a record of and track all COVID-19 cases, while ensuring medical information remains confidential. These records must be made available to employees, authorized employee representatives, or as otherwise required by law, with personal identifying information removed.

A comprehensive list of frequently asked questions and answers for the Temporary Emergency Standards requirement can be found at https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/COVID19FAQs.html