Are we responsible if an employee contracts COVID at our workplace?

Navigating COVID-19 risk in your workplace can be intimidating, but Marie Kulbeth, COO and General Counsel at SixFifty, shares a few steps to help you protect your workforce and minimize liability.

1. Meeting minimum OSHA requirements

You can think of OSHA requirements as your very first steps. At a minimum, you have to provide a safe and healthy workplace for your employees. Then, if an employee reports they’ve been at work and now have COVID or symptoms of COVID, you should go through the sanitation and cleaning procedures recommended by OSHA for COVID outbreaks or COVID exposure.

2. Additional ways to mitigate risk

You can also look at the specific risks your employees might face based on how their work is organized. Some simple examples are staggering breaks to keep employees from congregating in break rooms all at once, implementing physical barriers between people, and increasing ventilation.

3. Effectively communicating your policies

Having a policy doesn’t do any good and won’t protect you from liability if your employees don’t know what it is. You have to communicate it to them and train them to follow it. Beyond liability, communicating with your employees builds trust and helps them understand why you’re putting policies in place.

For more information on this topic, check out the video below!