Minnesota OSHA recently adopted recordkeeping and reporting provisions left over from the withdrawn Federal emergency standard protecting workers providing healthcare or healthcare support services (“ETS”) issued on June 21, 2021. Specifically, MNOSHA adopted recordkeeping and reporting provisions not withdrawn in the Federal ETS, including COVID-19 log and reporting provisions set forth in CFR 1910.502 (q)(2)(ii)-(iv) and (r). On August 22, 2022, MNOSHA proposed adopting these left over COVID-19 recordkeeping and reporting provisions in the State Register and were subsequently adopted in the State Register on November 21, 2022.
The adopted standard requires covered employers with more than ten employees to establish and maintain a COVID-19 log to record each instance in which an employee is COVID-19 positive, regardless of whether the instance is connected to exposure at work. In addition, employers must report to MNOSHA each work-related COVID-19 fatality within eight hours of the employer learning about the fatality and each work-related COVID-19 in-patient hospitalization within 24 hours of the employer learning about the hospitalization, regardless of when the fatality or hospitalization occurred. This is more stringent than CFR 1904.39 (b)(6), which states that an employer must report a fatality to OSHA only if the fatality occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident. Likewise, non-COVID-19 in-patient hospitalizations need to be report if it occurs within 24 hours of the work-related incident.
Bottom Line
Despite most of the Federal ETS being withdrawn, Federal OSHA, and with its adoption, MNOSHA, kept stringent recordkeeping and reporting guidelines. Covered employers with more than 10 employees must keep COVID-19 logs that record COVID-19 infections regardless of whether the infection is related to work. Covered employers must report a work-related COVID-19 fatality within eight hours of learning of a fatality and within 24 hours of a work-related COVID-19 in-patient hospitalization regardless of when it occurred. MNOSHA’s adoption of these COVID-19 related recordkeeping and reporting standards ensures that, while COVID-19 may be at or near an endemic stage, covered employers in Minnesota cannot forget or ignore COVID-19 into the foreseeable future.
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