New Oregon Face Covering Requirement for Public and Private Offices
The Oregon Health Authority recently updated its guidance on face coverings to now include their use in both public and private offices.
According to the updated guidance dated August 13, 2020, masks, face coverings or face shields are required at all times for employees in public and private office spaces, including hallways, bathrooms, elevators, lobbies, break rooms, and other common spaces, unless employees are at individual workspaces or in meeting rooms where six (6) feet of distance from other people can be consistently maintained.
Full details of the updated guidance can be found here.
Oregon OSHA DRAFT COVID-19 Temporary Rules & Standards
Oregon OSHA recently released draft temporary standards and rules for addressing COVID-19 in all Oregon workplaces. The agency is currently accepting public comment on the standards through the end of August and has stated that a final version of the temporary rules is planned to become effective no later than September 14, 2020.
Following are some of the requirements detailed in the draft with full details of the draft rules are available here.
Social Distancing
- Employers must ensure that 6-foot distancing between all individuals is implemented.
- To the extent that the employer determines and can demonstrate that such separation is not a practical option, the employer must ensure that face coverings are worn and that as much distance as practical is maintained between individuals.
- The 6-foot distance requirement can also be met when employees are separated from others by an impermeable barrier that creates a “droplet buffer” providing at least 6-feet distance between the mouths of individuals.
Face Coverings
- Employers must ensure that everyone in the workplace wears face coverings whenever the 6-foot distancing requirement cannot be consistently assured.
- Face coverings must be either medical grade masks; cloth face coverings that cover the nose and mouth; or face shields that cover the forehead, extend below the chin, and wrap around the sides of the face.
- Face coverings must be worn when individuals are engaged in forceful exertion, singing, or shouting and they are not separated from other individuals to their front by at least 12-feet.
Sanitation
- Employers must ensure that all high-contact surfaces used by multiple employees (door handles, telephones, cash registers, computers, drinking fountains, seatbelts, etc.) are thoroughly cleaned at the beginning of each shift.
- Employers must also ensure that employees have the supplies necessary and are able to use proper hand hygiene before and after using shared equipment or tools and before eating, drinking, applying cosmetics, or smoking.
Social Distancing Officer
- Employers with at least 25 employees at any time must designate one or more employees who will be responsible to assist the employer in identifying appropriate social distancing, proper face covering use, and sanitation measures and ensure such policies and procedures are implemented.
- Employers with fewer than 25 employees may choose to appoint a social distancing officer to assist the employer in complying with the requirements.
Building Operators
- Employers who operate or otherwise control buildings where the employees of other employers work must ensure that the building layout allows appropriate social distancing and must ensure that the basic requirements of this rule are posted (and enforced to the degree the building operator is reasonably able to do so) in any common areas, including but not limited to shared entrances, waiting rooms, corridors, restrooms, and elevators.
Employee Training
- Employers must post the “COVID-19 Hazards Poster” which will be provided by Oregon OSHA in a central location. Employees working remotely must be provided the same information through electronic or equally effective means.
- Employers must notify their employees about the social distancing requirements and how they will be implemented in the workplace, and employers must provide an opportunity for employee feedback about those practices (through the Social Distancing Officer and through either the Safety Committee, an interactive safety meeting, or both). Such notification must be conducted in a manner and language understood by the affected workers.
- There must be an explanation of the employer’s policies and procedures for employees to report signs or symptoms of COVID-19. Such explanations must be conducted in a manner and language understood by the affected workers.
- Employers must provide information to their employees about any paid leave to which employees would be entitled to by company policy as well as under the federal Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA).
Medical Removal
- Whenever a medical provider or public health official recommends isolation or quarantine, the affected worker(s) must be reassigned to duties that do not involve in-person contact with other workers or the public. Such reassignment must continue until the need for isolation no longer exists, based on guidance from the employee’s medical provider or from the involved public health officials.
- To the degree reassignment to other duties is not possible, the employer must allow workers to use leave to which they are entitled under the FFCRA. If the employer is not covered by the FFCRA or has previously opted out of the paid sick leave provisions of the FFCRA, then the employer must provide up to two weeks of paid reassignment leave in addition to whatever benefits to which the worker would otherwise be entitled (such leave will be provided at 40 hours per week for full-time employees and on a pro-rata basis for part-time employees).
- An employee who is reassigned for this reason will be entitled to return to their previous job duties without any adverse action as a result of the medical removal.
- Decisions regarding testing and return to work must be made in accordance with the direction of any involved public health official and must be otherwise consistent with guidance from the employee’s medical provider.
The draft rules also contain requirements for workplaces at heightened risk for COVID-19.
Oregon employers should begin considering any changes that would need to be implemented as a result of these new standards in preparation for the final rules in September. Xenium will continue to provide updates as additional information becomes available.