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Why is having or establishing a strong health and safety program of such crucial importance? Well, put simply: human consequences!

After our last blog post on this topic, we saw an uptick in COVID-19 related questions, understandably. Today I will be addressing one of the more common ones: whether illnesses caused by the virus are recordable or reportable. I’ve included a link below to the latest enforcement guidance memo from OSHA which describes what we need to do to determine work-relatedness.

I will also discuss additional aspects of your safety programs that you might want to review in light of this current pandemic and future ones.  As you read, please keep in mind that the CDC has different COVID-19 reporting requirements for healthcare providers, so if you're in the healthcare industry, please review those.

As an EHS consultant, I’m used to fielding questions on OSHA requirements, but since the beginning of the pandemic the amount has increased exponentially. With that in mind, I’m offering guidance on implementing workplace health and safety hazard processes as it relates to COVID-19.  

Rick Gehrke, Senior Environmental Safety and Health Consultant here at Intertek Alchemy, recently hosted the webinar “Don’t Get Busted! OSHA 2019 Top Five Violations in General Industry”  that covered the specific standards, the hazards and types of associated incidents, penalties, as well as some of things that you can do to protect your people and your organization.

We’ve received many questions regarding OSHA regulations and the use of N95 masks in the workplace for protecting personnel from COVID-19, and whether the respiratory protection standard applies.