OR OSHA Releases Grace Period for Enforcement of New Temporary Rule.
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
|
OR OSHA Releases Grace Period for Enforcement of New Temporary Rule
|
|
OR OSHA’s Temporary COVID-19 Rule contains a number of deadlines, including a Risk Assessment and Infection Control Plan deadline of December 7, 2020, and an Infection Control Training deadline of December 21, 2020.
OR OSHA has recently announced an extension for employers affected by the recent statewide freeze and newly adopted risk levels, as well as a grace period for employers working to comply with the deadlines.
- Business in substantial compliance with Governor’s Executive Order 20-65 4a. and 4.b (i.e., food and drink establishments, certain businesses and activities closed/prohibited during the freeze period) who have experienced significant modifications to their immediate business activities will not be cited for violations of the Risk Assessment or Infection Control Plan provisions of the rule that occur before December 28, 2020 and will not be cited for violations of the Infection Control Training provisions of the rule that occur before January 11, 2021.
- Employers not covered by Governor’s Executive Order 20-65 4a. and 4.b are required to comply with the requirements under the deadlines reflected in the rule.
- However, Oregon OSHA will address any compliance issues that arise under these requirements beginning with a telephone inquiry.
- If the employer provides a response that indicates they are working to comply and providing a reasonable time frame to complete the work, no inspections will be conducted based on the Risk Assessment and Infection Control Plan requirements before December 14, 2020, and no inspections will be conducted on the Infection Control training requirements before December 28, 2020.
- However, if satisfactory progress does not appear to be taking place based on the telephone inquiry, worksites may be scheduled for inspection based on those issues at any time after those provisions of the rule take effect.
Member companies can review Governor’s Executive Order 20-65 here to determine if they are covered by 4a. or 4b. https://www.oregon.gov/gov/admin/Pages/eo_20-65.aspx
The following weblink contains more information on the extension and grace period for certain employers: OR OSHA Workplace Advisor Memo https://osha.oregon.gov/Documents/COVID-19-memo-riskassessment-infectioncontrolplan-training-deadlines.pdf
OR OSHA did not indicate there were any grace periods for other requirements of the Temporary COVID-19 rule, including workplace safety measures (e.g., physical distancing rules, face-covering requirements, and infection-notification protocols) that were required to be implemented by November 16, 2020, as well as the training requirement that must be completed by December 21, 2020. Member companies are advised to complete these requirements by their original deadline date. A copy of the Temporary COVID-19 rule is available at the following weblink: https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHARules/div1/437-001-0744.pdf
UEA Attorneys are available to assist members with any additional questions they may have regarding OR OSHA’s Temporary COVID-19 rule and the new grace periods.
OR OSHA’s Temporary COVID-19 Rule contains a number of deadlines, including a Risk Assessment and Infection Control Plan deadline of December 7, 2020, and an Infection Control Training deadline of December 21, 2020.
|
|
|
|
Email to a Friend
