In April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued updated COVID-19 FAQs related to contractor vaccine policies. The FAQs established that when vaccination is mandated by employers, adverse reactions related to employees receiving the vaccine are a recordable injury/illness, and, in some cases, may be recordable even when contractors only recommend, or encourage, employees receive the vaccine (for background, click here). On May 12, حوإ¼½م½م put forth its concerns to OSHA. On May 21, OSHA issued a single stating that “DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. OSHA does not wish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivize employers’ vaccination efforts. As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR 1904’s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination through May 2022. We will reevaluate the agency’s position at that time to determine the best course of action moving forward.†This is a significant win not only for construction, but all other industry sectors required to maintain an OSHA 300 Log.
For more information, please contact Kevin Cannon at (703)837-5410 or kevin.cannon@agc.org or Nazia Shah at (703)837-5409 or nazia.shah@agc.org.