QH
INDUSTRY INSIGHT
THE NEW NORMAL
How to navigate OSHA’s new COVID-19 safety guidelines
RECENTLY, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT
of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) adopted revised policies for enforcing their requirements due to the changing scenery caused by COVID-19, all in an attempt to decrease the risk of transmission. Now, under new record-keeping requirements, coronavirus is considered a recordable illness. Many workers return to an environment that is far from normal. At the NOLN office, for example, hand sanitizer can be seen in virtually every room, coworkers sit six feet apart or
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more from their normal desk buddies, and arrows line the walkways to avoid running into oncoming people traffic. At shops, the processes changed almost overnight in order to remain open and safe for customers. According to Colette Bruce, owner of Team Safety LLC, however, many workers are coming back to work to find no precautions in place whatsoever, which has resulted in many complaints piling up on OSHA’s file cabinets. To avoid future OSHA citations, Bruce lays out the groundwork on the new guidelines operators need to follow.
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6/23/20 4:35 PM