OSHA Gives Direction on COVID-19 Employee Screenings

Words: Jeff Buczkiewicz

Recently, OSHA announced that employers taking documented temperature screenings and/or asking employees to fill out written symptom surveys (as recommended by the CDC and in some cases required by local or states governments) must comply with the Access Rule. What does this mean? This means those records must be saved by the employer for the duration of the employment of each employee plus 30 years. As a result, the MCAA (as part of the Construction Industry Safety Coalition through the CISC law firm, is sending a letter appealing this clarification and questioning the validity and applicability for the Access Rule. 

 

This ruling would encourage contractors to either not do screenings or not to record the screenings, which is counter to the intent of doing them. The MCAA will continue to give updates on this issue and others as they develop. Make sure you monitor your newsletters for details.

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