OSHA continues to modify procedures to adapt during the ongoing pandemic. Its emphasis has remained focused on the employer’s responsibility to ensure employee safety in the workplace.
OSHA describes the employer’s ability to seek alternative avenues to ensure safety as “Good Faith Efforts.” These are used to protect employees from hazardous tasks, processes, or equipment for which they are not prepared or trained. Full compliance with any mandates must be resumed immediately when OSHA suspends considerations of Good Faith Efforts.
This past April, the OSHA Directorate of Enforcement Programs issued a memorandum. The memorandum described how OSHA directs their inspection teams for enforcement of various standards during the pandemic. Employers will not be cited for failure to complete annual pulmonary function testing, or other medical surveillance testing, audiometric testing, or in-person training, due to the hazards involved with the close contact required to meet these requirements.
If you have any questions regarding your facility’s safety program, or desire assistance providing OSHA training for your employees, please contact Mostardi Platt here.
EH&S Team
Mostardi Platt
888 Industrial Drive
Elmhurst, IL 60126