Covid-19, OSHA ETS, and Sage HRMS

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to help minimize the risk of Covid-19 in the workplace.  Particularly, the ETS is necessary to protect employees that are unvaccinated from contracting Covid-19 at work.  These new standards apply to all employers with a few exceptions.  These exceptions include workplaces that are covered under the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force COVID-19 Workplace Safety, any setting where healthcare services or support is subject to the requirements of the Healthcare ETS, any workplace where there are fewer than 100 employees, and any public employers in states without State Plans.

For those employers who do fall under the OSHA ETS, there are 10 basic requirements for employers to follow, and Sage HRMS can help!

Sage HRMS has created 3 custom detail pages specifically to work with the new ETS and track the required information. 

• COVID Summary - includes the current vaccination status, testing requirement, and testing dates

• COVID Vaccinations – includes multiple rows to capture each vaccine occurrence
• COVID Testing – includes multiple rows to capture each test result

Additionally, HRMS has 7 user defined code tables for test category, test result, test type, testing status, vaccine mfg, vaccine status, and vaccine type. Everything employers need to track and report on for the new ETS is available in HRMS.  What specifically are employers required to do? 

1. Create a vaccination policy that allows employees either:
   1. To get vaccinated, or
   2. Undergo weekly Covid-19 testing and wear a mask while at the workplace
      
      
2. Track the vaccination status of each employee and obtain acceptable proof of vaccination. Status can be:
   1. Fully vaccinated
   2. Partially vaccinated
   3. Not vaccinated
   4. Not vaccinated due to medical or religious accommodation
      
      

3. Support vaccination of employees by providing PTO during business hours for the employee to get vaccinated, and reasonable sick leave to recover from side effects of the vaccination
   
   
4. Ensure weekly Covid-19 testing for unvaccinated employees
   1. Diagnostic testing – acceptable
   2. Antibody testing – not acceptable
      
      
5. Require employees to provide immediate notice to employer if they receive a positive Covid-19 test
   
   
6. Immediately remove any employee from the workplace, regardless of vaccination status, who has received a positive Covid-19 test
   
   
7. Ensure unvaccinated employees wear a face covering:
   1. When indoors
   2. When occupying a vehicle with another person for work purposes
      
      
8. Provide each employee, in a language and with terminology the employee understands, with information about the requirements of the ETS and the benefits of being vaccinated
   
   
9. Upon learning about them, report work-related Covid-19 fatalities and Covid-19 in-patient hospitalizations to the OSHA
   1. Fatalities – within 8 hours
   2. Hospitalizations – within 24 hours
      
      
10. Make records available to employee or employee’s representative

At the time of this writing (Dec, 2021) the timeline for implementation of the ETS has been delayed by litigation.  However, OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers, and that this ETS will move forward soon.  Be ready!  Read the full text of the ETS here and contact Equation to get HRMS for your company.  866-436-3530.