California employers still have to follow strict rules regarding masks

Workplace regulators are taking a cautious stance to protect unvaccinated workers as the state prepares to fully reopen on June 15.

On Friday, the state’s occupational health and safety department cited underreported workplace outbreaks, citing underreported workplace outbreaks, and even if vaccination rates soared, some workers were vaccinated and some were vaccinated. We have proposed new rules to support wearing indoor masks in unaccepted environments. The proposal will be voted on at a meeting of the Government Standards Committee on June 3.

Different mask policies for vaccinated and unvaccinated people “… would not be possible to implement in a consistent and consistent manner,” officials said.

Therefore, instead of allowing vaccinated employees to opt out, when all employees are indoors, they should wear a mask if their condition is unknown. According to an agency known as Cal / OSHA, the proposed rules differ in outdoor environments, where vaccinated workers can remove their masks, but unvaccinated workers are socially distant. If you can’t put it on, you should continue to wear a face cover.

People who do not wear masks for medical or other reasons but are not vaccinated or tested weekly at company expense should be 6 feet away from others. These social distance rules are valid until July 31st.

The recommendation was made by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May that people who have been fully vaccinated with COVID-19 can safely enter many indoor environments such as grocery stores and restaurants without wearing a mask. This is in contrast to the announcement on the 13th.

If new rules are adopted, employers may be motivated to require proof of vaccination. That way, everyone who has been vaccinated will work in one area, and those who have not been vaccinated will work in another area, wearing masks or keeping a distance.

State rules do not require employers to collect vaccine information from employees, but counties can impose stricter rules. For example, Santa Clara County announced last week that companies need to determine employee immunization status in preparation for resuming operations and activities across the state next month.

“OSHA says that we don’t know who is vaccinated or not, and we can’t guarantee that coercion will take place. Therefore, they are all potentially potential. To protect unvaccinated people by having everyone wear masks and socially distanced, assuming they are contagious to the UC Berkeley-UCFS Joint Medical Program Infectious Diseases Honor Dr. John Swartsburg, a professor, said.

At this step, “OSHA is paying the price for those who choose not to be vaccinated,” he said.

He added that the conservation approach would also protect a small number of people who are unable to be vaccinated due to allergies or who have been vaccinated but are not fully protected by immunodeficiency.

“But OSHA’s job is to protect its employees,” he said. “This provides greater protection for workers indoors than the approach of simply saying,’Only unvaccinated people wear masks’ without coercion. “

While vaccination has reduced COVID-19 infections, many California workers are not fully vaccinated and may be exposed to infections at work, according to Cal / OSHA. Facing Authorities noted outbreaks and outbreaks in workplaces throughout the state, including food manufacturing, farming, and warehousing.

Cal / OSHA pointed out that data on the number of cases of COVID-19 infection and the number of deaths due to exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace are not currently available, but especially among mandatory workers. Because of that number can be quite large. ‘Exposure to people outside the home, and proximity between people needed by some industries.

Stephen Knight of WorkSafe, an Auckland-based worker advocacy group, appreciated the more cautious approach.

“All workers, whether vaccinated or not, deserve a tool for workplace protection and exercise of their rights,” he said. “This language seems to be more tailored to the actual workplace situation than the rough mitigation recently proposed by the Federal CDC.”

Authorities were ready to adopt the new rules on May 21, but the tension argued that business lobbyists should relax masking and distance restrictions to increase vaccination coverage and reduce case numbers. After the meeting, it decided to postpone the decision to further review federal regulations. Worker advocates have warned of potential risks if safety obligations are lifted too soon.