COVID-19 Enforcement by Industry

the Synergist

BY THE NUMBERS

In November 2020, OSHA released guidance regarding the standards cited most frequently during workplace inspections related to COVID-19 (see related article on page 13). The OSHA website also regularly posts data about federal and state OSHA enforcement actions during the pandemic as well as safety and health complaints. The information below on total COVID-related inspections and complaints by industry was current as of Nov. 29, 2020, and reflects the latest data available when this issue of The Synergist went to press.

From “Common COVID-19 Citations: Helping Employers Better Protect Workers and Comply with OSHA Regulations”:

“OSHA’s temporary enforcement memoranda are time-limited to the current COVID-19 crisis and are aligned with CDC’s ‘Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators,’ which recommend a variety of conventional, contingency, and crisis capacity control strategies. Enforcement discretion applies only after an employer has considered and taken all possible steps to comply with measures in a particular control strategy.”

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SOURCES

OSHA: “Common COVID-19 Citations: Helping Employers Better Protect Workers and Comply with OSHA Regulations” (PDF, November 2020).

OSHA: “COVID-19 Response Summary.”