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SAN FRANCISCO – California officials on Thursday approved new regulations requiring employers to implement safety measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, becoming the latest state to adopt stricter rules.
The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Council heard testimony on a temporary emergency standard that requires companies to educate employees on ways to prevent infection, provide personal protective equipment free and to offer free COVID-19 testing to all employees if three or more employees are infected with the coronavirus within 14 days, among other measures.
California joins with Oregon, Michigan and Virginia in implementing similar standards. Virginia became the first state in the country to approve new temporary workplace safety rules after lawmakers passed the measures in July, citing inaction by federal officials.
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The union groups said the new regulations are needed to set clear and enforceable standards.
“Previously there were guidelines that employers should follow, but this standard provides a more streamlined message of the safety measures they should take,” said Maggie Robbins, occupational health and environmental specialist at Worksafe, a organization that promotes safety. workplace rights.
The standard was criticized by employers who were among more than 100 speakers who addressed the board ahead of a scheduled vote, and many said a general standard that applies to all businesses is impractical. Business representatives also pointed out that many measures are already included in recently approved laws, local health decrees and executive decrees.
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Mike Hall, who spoke on behalf of the Pacific Maritime Association, a San Francisco-based group representing the Pacific Coast shipping industry, said shipping companies were spending more than $ 1 million a week on sanitation and cleaning and had had few COVID-19 infections.
Hall said the requirement to test all employees if three or more positive cases are reported is impractical.
Cal / OSHA has received nearly 8,000 workplace safety complaints since August, with most of its citations being issued to employers for failing to ensure workers maintain physical distance or fail to report COVID-19 illnesses properly on the job. workplace, according to assembled Ash Kalra, a San José Democrat.
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Cal / OSHA did not respond to phone calls and emails asking for details on the number of citations it issued, the industries most reported, or the impact of violations.
“Over a 14-day period, thousands upon thousands of workers pass through southern California port facilities. If there was an occurrence of three people with the virus, the facility would have to test thousands and thousands of workers during working hours each week. It’s just impossible, ”Hall said.
Teachers, janitors and workers at factories, hotels and restaurants have urged the board to approve the new regulations, with many telling personal stories of coronavirus infection at work.
Virgilda Romero, who works in the Los Angeles garment industry, said she contracted the virus at work where her employer did not provide soap for washing hands, did not make sure workers kept in at least 6 feet away and not informing them when a colleague took time off because he had contracted the virus.
“After I returned to work, the bosses told me that a colleague had died from COVID,” she said. “I’m afraid of falling ill again and infecting my family.”
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Emergency standards come into effect within 10 days and last at least six months.
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