OSHA Reverses Courses and Now Requires Employers to Track COVID-19 Cases
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration this week announced a significant reversal of previous policy on an employer’s obligation to record work-related cases of COVID-19 on OSHA injury and illness logs. The new requirements go into effect Tuesday, May 26.
As with the previous guidance, OSHA acknowledged that it will be difficult to establish that a particular COVID-19 case is “work-related.” But the new guidance does place additional obligations on most employers to conduct an investigation and to make a reasonable determination as to whether the illness was transmitted on the job.
It should be noted that the new guidance applies only to employers currently subject to OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements. Due to employee size limitations, many home builders are exempt from most of the new requirements.