The COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations requiring employers to protect workers from hazards related to COVID-19 are effective as of February 3, 2023. These include several changes and various requirements continuing from the Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS). They will remain in effect through February 3, 2025, with the recordkeeping section of the law valid through February 3, 2026.
Important changes to the COVID-19 Prevention rules include:
- Daily Symptom Screenings No Longer Required. Employees are no longer required to go through the daily ritual of informing their employer that they are COVID free. Now employees are required to inform their supervisor that they are symptomatic before entering the place of employment and to seek exclusion as appropriate.
- Exclusion Pay. Employees excluded from workplace are not eligible for any pay irrespective of whether the exposure happened at workplace or not. Employees should be educated on sick pay, vacation pay, FMLA and other benefits available.
- Employee Notification. Employees can now be notified by posting notices on the employee notice board (i.e., lunchroom) regarding close contact exposure. Notices must be posted within one business day of learning that a person in the workplace has COVID-19 and continue for 15 days.
- Close Contact: “Close contact” is now defined by looking at the size of the workplace in which the exposure takes place. For indoor airspaces of 400,000 or fewer cubic feet, “close contact” is now defined as sharing the same indoor airspace with a COVID-19 case for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the COVID-19 infectious period. For indoor airspaces of greater than 400,000 cubic feet, “close contact” is defined as being within six feet of a COVID-19 case for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the COVID-19 infectious period.
Merge the COVID-19 Plan into the Illness & Injury Prevention Plan (IIPP)
The regulations allow the employers to merge the COVID-19 Plan into their IIPP. In the past few years, we have seen the guidelines being tightened during outbreaks and then being relaxed. For example, the regulations refer to the guidelines from California Department of Public Health (CDPH) which were changing during the pandemic. Since the COVID-19 Plan may undergo changes during the next two years, employers are better served to keep their COVID-19 Plan and IIPP separate.
Ventilation, Filtration, & HEPA Filters
The regulations impose additional requirements on improving air quality at the workplace through one or more of the following options: maximizing fresh uptake to the HVAC units, increasing the filtration efficiency, and providing individual HEPA filtration units.
- Maximizing the fresh air uptake can be achieved through your HVAC contractor. The fresh air uptake will have an impact on your energy bills as greater amount of fresh air during the summer months will increase your cooling bill and heating bill in the winter months.
- Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values, or MERV, reports a filter’s ability to capture particles. Filters with MERV-13 or higher ratings can trap smaller particles, including viruses. Upgrade to a MERV-13 rated filter, or the highest-rated filter that your HVAC system fan and filter slot can accommodate.
- Individual Air Purifying units with True HEPA filters can remove up to 99.7% of the viruses.
OTHER IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS CONTINUING FROM THE ETS
- COVID Testing. Employers must make COVID-19 testing available at no cost and during employees’ paid time regardless of vaccination status, to all employees who have had close contact in the workplace with an exception for symptom-free employees who recently recovered from COVID-19 (returned cases).
- Face Coverings. Employers must provide face coverings and ensure they are worn by employees when CDPH requires their use. Additionally, employees have the right to wear face coverings and request respirators from the employer when working indoors and during outbreaks. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/guidance-for-face-coverings.aspx.
- Reporting. Employers must report information about employee deaths, serious injuries, and serious occupational illnesses to Cal/OSHA, consistent with existing regulations.
- Exclusion. Employers must exclude COVID-19 cases from the workplace until they are no longer an infection risk and must implement policies to prevent transmission after close contact.
The new regulations ease the burden on employers as COVID-19 related illnesses and fatalities have gone down. Needless to say, the regulations may get ratcheted up should COVID related illnesses increase.
In 1896, Dr. William Osler, a founder of Johns Hopkins hospital stated in his address The Fevers of the South at the American Medical Association meeting in Atlanta, Georgia: “Humanity has but three great enemies: fever, famine and war; of these by far the greatest, by far the most terrible, is fever.” We can say that with the help of the vaccine, safety protocols, and other technologies, we have won the war with the fever. At least this time.
All employers in the State of California are required to maintain an operational COVID-19 Prevention Plan pursuant to Title 8 CCR and Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS). Please visit CNCDA www.cncda.org for a model COVID-19 Prevention Plan for auto dealers or click here for a sample COVID-19 Prevention Plan from Cal/OSHA.
Sources
Celly Services Inc. 