What is Coronavirus?
Let's know this deaseas first.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It has spread from China to
many other countries around the world, including the United States.
Depending on the severity of COVID-19’s international impacts, outbreak conditions—including those rising to the level of a pandemic—can affect all aspects of daily life, including travel, trade, tourism, food supplies, and financial markets.
To reduce the impact of COVID-19 outbreak conditions on businesses, workers, customers, and the public, it is important
for all employers to plan now for COVID-19. For employers who have already planned for influenza pandemics, planning for COVID-19 may involve updating plans to address the specific exposure risks, sources of exposure, routes of transmission, and other unique characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., compared to pandemic influenza viruses). Employers who have not prepared for pandemic events should prepare themselves and their workers as far in advance as possible of potentially worsening outbreak conditions. Lack of continuity planning can result in a cascade of failures as employers attempt to address
challenges of COVID-19 with insufficient resources and workers who might not be adequately trained for jobs they may have to
perform under pandemic conditions.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) developed this COVID-19 planning guidance based on traditional infection prevention and industrial hygiene practices. It focuses on
the need for employers to implement engineering, administrative, and work practice controls and personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as considerations for doing so.
This guidance is intended for planning purposes. Employers and workers should use this planning guidance to help identify risk levels in workplace settings and to determine any appropriate control measures to implement. Additional guidance may be needed as COVID-19 outbreak conditions change, including as new information about the virus, its
transmission, and impacts, becomes available.
How COVID-19 Spreads?
Although the first human cases of COVID-19 likely resulted from exposure to infected animals, infected people can spread SARS-CoV-2 to other people.
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person, including:
■ Between people who are in close contact
with one another (within about 6 feet).
■ Through respiratory
droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.
It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has SARS-CoV-2 on it and then
touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the primary way the virus spreads.
People are thought to be most contagious when they are most symptomatic (i.e., experiencing fever, cough, and/or shortness
of breath). Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this type of asymptomatic transmission with this new coronavirus, but this is also not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
Although the United States hasimplemented public health measures to limit the spread of the virus, it is likely that some person-to-person transmission will continue to occur.
Steps All Employers Can Take to
Reduce Workers’ Risk of Exposure
to SARS-CoV-2. This section describes basic steps that every employer can
take to reduce the risk of worker exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in their workplace. Later sections
of this guidance—including those focusing on jobs classified as having low, medium, high, and very high exposure risks—provide specific recommendations for employers and workers within specific risk categories.
Develop an Infectious Disease. Preparedness and Response Plan, If one does not already exist, develop an infectious disease preparedness and response plan that can help guide protective actions against COVID-19.
Stay abreast of guidance from federal, state, local, tribal, and/or territorial health agencies, and consider how to incorporate those recommendations and resources into workplace-specific plans.
Plans should consider and address the level(s) of risk associated with various worksites and job tasks workers
perform at those sites. Such considerations may include:
■ Where, how, and to what sources of SARS-CoV-2 might workers be exposed, including:
{ The general public, customers, and coworkers; and{ Sick individuals or those at particularly high risk of infection (e.g., international travelers who have visited locations with widespread sustained (ongoing) COVID-19 transmission, healthcare workers who have had unprotected exposures to people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19).
■ Non-occupational risk factors at home and in community settings.
■ Workers’ individual risk factors (e.g., older age; presence of chronic medical conditions, including immunocompromising conditions; pregnancy).
■ Controls necessary to address those risks.
Follow federal and state, local, tribal, and/or territorial (SLTT) recommendations regarding development of contingency
plans for situations that may arise as a result of outbreaks, such as:
■ Increased rates of worker absenteeism.
■ The need for social distancing, staggered work shifts, downsizing operations,
delivering services remotely, and other exposure-reducing measures.
■ Options for conducting essential operations with a reduced workforce, including cross-training workers across different jobs in order to continue operations or deliver surge services.
■ Interrupted supply chains or delayed deliveries.
Prepare to Implement Basic Infection
Prevention Measures
For most employers, protecting workers will depend on emphasizing basic infection prevention measures. As appropriate, all employers should implement good hygiene
and infection control practices, including.
■ Discourage workers from using other workers’ phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment, when possible.
■ Maintain regular housekeeping practices, including routine cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces, equipment, and other elements of the work environment. When choosing
cleaning chemicals, employers should consult information on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved
disinfectant labels with claims against emerging viral pathogens. Products with EPA-approved emerging viral
pathogens claims are expected to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 based on data for harder to kill viruses. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use of all cleaning and disinfection products (e.g., concentration, application method and contact time, PPE).
Safe Work Practices Safe work practices are types of
administrative controls that include procedures for safe and proper work used to reduce the duration, frequency, or intensity of exposure to a hazard. Examples of safe work practices for SARS-CoV-2 include: ■ Providing resources and a work environment that promotes personal hygiene. For example, provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60 percent alcohol, disinfectants, and disposable towels for workers to clean their work surfaces. ■ Requiring regular hand washing or using of alcohol-based hand rubs. Workers should always wash hands when they are visibly soiled and after removing any PPE. ■ Post handwashing signs in restrooms. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) While engineering and administrative controls are considered more effective in minimizing exposure to SARS-CoV-2, PPE may also be needed to prevent certain exposures. While correctly using PPE can help prevent some exposures, it should not take the place of other prevention strategies. Examples of PPE include: gloves, goggles, face shields, face masks, and respiratory protection, when appropriate. During an outbreak of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, recommendations for PPE specific to occupations or job tasks may change depending on geographic location, updated risk assessments for workers, and information on PPE effectiveness in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Employers should check the OSHA and CDC websites regularly for updates about recommended PPE. All types of PPE must be: ■ Selected based upon the hazard to the worker. ■ Properly fitted and periodically refitted, as applicable.
Safety measures for employee and employers:
1. Educate Your Workforce and Communicate Regularly with Employees.
2. Monitor Developments on a Daily Basis
Appoint a Cross-Functional Coronavirus.
3. Emergency Management Team.
4. Reinforce Good Hygiene Practices and Take Related Safety Precautions.
5. Actively Encourage Sick Employees to Stay Home and Immediately Send Sick Employees Home.
6. Suspend or Limit Business Travel
Quarantine Potentially Exposed Employees, Even if They Do Not Exhibit Symptoms.
7. Consider Having Non-Essential Employees Work Remotely.
8. Be Mindful of the Interplay Between Sick Leave Laws and Policies, the FMLA, ADA, HIPAA and Workers’ Compensation
Screen Visitors to the Workplace.
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