Groups representing businesses and workers staked out opposing ground as California’s workplace-safety board delayed a decision Thursday on whether to change rules governing how companies should manage social distancing, masks and other measures at work as California begins to reopen.
The state Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board met by videoconference to consider revising the state’s COVID-emergency workplace order to allow vaccinated people to work indoors unmasked and without social distancing while unvaccinated workers indoors would have to be offered N95 respirator masks and tested at least once a week for the virus.
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA and overseen by the board, had urged board members to hold off on the proposed revisions, citing an announcement Monday that the state would on June 15 start following updated guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that fully vaccinated people can go without masks in most indoor settings, and outdoors. Cal/OSHA deputy chief Eric Berg in a memo asked the board to allow his agency to present a new proposal, created in light of the state and federal moves, at a future meeting.
The board agreed, scheduling a meeting for June 3, with the new proposal to be made publicly available by May 28.
The decision followed a series of presentations by representatives of employers and workers, who outlined starkly different concerns, with business lobbyists arguing that increasing vaccination rates and plummeting COVID rates warranted relaxation of regulations, and worker advocates highlighting continuing risks and a potential resurgence of the virus if safety mandates are lifted too soon.
“Infections are still occurring. Outbreaks at workplaces are still occurring,” said Maggie Robbins, an occupational and environmental health specialist at Oakland-based worker-advocacy group WorkSafe, who noted that many Californians are not vaccinated. “What we potentially have is lots of people not wearing masks, an inability to determine who’s vaccinated and a relaxation of social distancing. This is going to lead to open season in the workplace for all controls in the workplace to be relaxed, or most controls to be relaxed.”
Employer groups presented a fairly united front in asking the board to align state rules with federal guidance to eliminate confusion and make compliance easier. They also generally opposed a proposal to make employers provide N95 masks on a voluntary basis to unvaccinated indoor workers, with some highlighting increased costs and most pointing to the possibility that such a mandate would boost demand and make the respirators harder to get for businesses and health care agencies.
California Chamber of Commerce policy advocate Robert Moutrie said the N95 requirement would impose a huge burden on companies while presenting problems of proper use when ordinary masks have proven effective.
Cassie Hilaski, environmental health and safety director at Nibbi Brothers General Contractors in Moraga expressed concern that imposing different rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated workers would set up two classes of employees. “That creates the very real likelihood for harassment and discrimination,” Hilaski said.
Employer representatives said the burden of sorting out vaccinated from unvaccinated workers could also raise privacy concerns. “Why must we have to monitor the entire workforce, with cases going down?” said Patricia Bruno, senior vice-president of public policy at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “If the goal is to open up because infection rates are low, why are these requirements being added?”
Mitch Steiger, a lobbyist for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said employers could not necessarily be trusted to truthfully ascertain employees’ vaccination status, and not all employees could be trusted to provide truthful information about their status. “Those out there who are very intent on not getting the vaccine,” Steiger said, “are the very same ones who are not going to wear a mask.”
Board members weighing in on the issue reflected the board’s composition. “The risk in California today in 2021 is not what it was in 2020, that needs to be considered,” said management representative Chris Laszcz-Davis. “If you look at the workplace statistics, most of the COVID cases are not originating in the workplace but in the community. It’s been mitigated to some extent.”
Board member Laura Stock, an occupational safety representative, expressed worries about unvaccinated people not wearing masks, possibly leading to more outbreaks, plus the prospect of new, more dangerous coronavirus variants. “Lifting these requirements may be putting workers at risk,” Stock said.
Board chair David Thomas urged a cautious approach. “Hopefully we’re getting to a place where we can open things up. It’s looking that way.” But, he said, “A little over a year ago we tried to open up everything. It was a disaster. Until we got the vaccine we were in dire straits. In the back of your mind you have to say, ‘We’ve seen this before,’ and for lack of a better word, we don’t want to get stupid.”
Discover more from Today Headline
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.