OSHA Issues Updated Guidance on Preventing Workplace Exposure to Coronavirus

By Bill Pokorny and Tracey Truesdale - Franczek P.C.

March 11, 2020

OSHA has released “Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19,” a 32-page booklet describing “lower exposure,” “medium exposure,” and “high or very high exposure” risk occupations and what precautions employers can take with respect to protect employees at each level. Note that OSHA cautions that this new “guidance is advisory in nature and informational in content. It is not a standard or a regulation, and it neither creates new legal obligations nor alters existing obligations created by OSHA standards or the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act).” Employers should be mindful of their obligations under the OSH Act’s general duty clause to provide employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.