Workplace safety with continued COVID-19 re-openings

On June 30, Governor Inslee transitioned all counties in the state to Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan. With this move, almost all COVID-related restrictions on employers and facilities were lifted. On July 1 the governor issued a Washington Ready proclamation summarizing the face covering and public health requirements for businesses and employers. As cities continue to expand reopening plans, including many starting for the first time in over a year to allow the public into facilities, here are our top five recommendations and considerations to keep in mind.

1. MRSC has provided a fantastic resource that covers current employer organization obligations around COVID safety; we recommend all entities review this resource to ensure you are covering your bases.
   
   Businesses and local entities may keep or install rules that are more restrictive than the current state guidelines. For a litany of reasons, organizations may not be prepared to open their facilities or businesses to the degree the July 1 proclamation allows; it is allowed and appropriate for entities to make their own determination and keep rules that may be stricter that the current state requirements.
2. Make sure your entity is meeting the latest iteration of COVID-19 guidelines. Labor and Industries published updated guidelines on June 30 that include requirements set forth in the latest proclamation. While most restrictions were lifted, there are still some baseline requirements that organizations must keep; be familiar with what your entity must continue to do to keep employees safe from COVID exposure and transmission. This includes ensuring that unvaccinated employees continue to wear a mask while working indoors and verifying worker vaccination status.
3. Ventilation (airflow) and employee distance/spacing are important considerations as your organization balances fuller reopening and preventing COVID spread in your facilities. Per the World Health Organization (WHO), “current evidence suggests that the virus spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with each other” and “the virus can also spread in poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor settings, where people tend to spend longer periods of time”. As we bring people back to work, where we can reasonably increase ventilation and decrease lengthy interactions, we can improve safety.
4. All preventative efforts toward prevention of transmission are significantly helped by employee groups being vaccinated. We encourage employers to strongly recommend vaccination – and where possible incentivize vaccination for employees.
5. Ensure your continued reopening plans consider any high-risk employees you have, and that you are providing reasonable accommodation to employees. Per LNI, “HELSA protects high-risk employees from being discharged, permanently replaced, or discriminated against in the workplace for seeking accommodation from exposure to an infectious or contagious disease during a public health emergency. HELSA is administered by L&I and currently applies to accommodations related to COVID-19.”

If you have any questions about your reopening plans, or need assistance with COVID-related safety issues, please contact the Retro team.