Construction Officials Critical of Virginia's New Emergency Safety Standards
Last calendar week, Virginia became the offset land to enforce a gear up of new prophylactic standards in response to rising risks of COVID-19. Construction officials worry the standards are also broad to enforce.
Concluding calendar week, Virginia became the first state to enforce emergency workplace safety standards in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The new standards, which were approved on July 15th and went into issue on July 27th, are designed "to control, prevent, and mitigate the spread of [COVID-19]" in the workplace.
The announced standards have already been questioned by a prominent structure safety coalition. The Construction Industry Rubber Coalition said in a statement they are concerned the new standards are too broad to be enforced. "The CISC does not believe that evidence supports application of such a wide range of requirements to the construction manufacture, which has already taken strides to address COVID-19," information technology reads.
The emergency workplace safety standards, set up to expire in half dozen months, detail a diverseness of condom procedures and requirements meant to limit the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace. Among them:
- Assessment of workplaces for "hazards and job tasks that can potentially expose employees to … COVID-xix."
- Development and implementation of polices and procedures for "employees to study when they are experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, and no alternative diagnosis has been made (e.1000., tested positive for influenza)."
- "Institute a organisation to receive positive [COVID-19] test reports from employees, subcontractors, contract employees, and temporary employees."
- Notification of the Virginia Department of Health within 24 hours of discovering a COVID-19 positive case.
- Notification of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry inside 24 hours of the discovery of three or more employees present at work "within a 14-mean solar day period testing positive for [COVID-nineteen] during that xiv-day time menstruation."
- Enforcement of social distancing (i.e., staying at least 6 feet from other persons or separated by a permanent, solid, flooring-to-ceiling wall) while on the job and during paid breaks on the employer's property. If social distancing is not possible given the nature of the employee's chore, appropriate respirators and personal protective equipment must be used.
The CISC's main issue with these guidelines is the broadly applicable, a ane-size-fits-all approach, which information technology says resulted "in a standard that is cumbersome and non effective at protecting employees."
Instead, they recommend that any approach to coronavirus-related safety regulation in the structure manufacture be modeled after the CISC's own "COVID-nineteen Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Programme," which was created last March.
The Virginia Department of Labor and Manufacture has not yet responded to the CISC's argument. At this time they are the simply country to adopt this sort of emergency standard, although Oregon is besides currently developing its own temporary coronavirus safety guidelines.
Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/construction-officials-critical-of-virginias-new-emergency-safety-standards/
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