Employers that are now asking employees medical questions and taking staff temperatures to see if they might be carrying the coronavirus into the workplace must do so in a way that satisfies Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for collecting the date and maintaining records for 30 years.
Alan Achatz, CCM, CHE, Principal of Club Safety Solutions, LLC, in Raleigh, N.C. provides this update about an alert relating to monitoring employee health to guard against COVID-19 infections in the workplace:
Access to employee exposure and medical records
(An OSHA General Industry Standard 29 CFR 1910.1020)
Many operations are asking their employees various medical questions and taking staff temperatures to verify if they might be carriers of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain of coronavirus causing coronavirus disease 2019.
While these practices can help an employer to determine if an employee is exhibiting symptoms, everyone needs to know there are employee-related Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements they now have to satisfy.
It is essential you know that if you are collecting this data, you have to securely maintain these records for 30 years!
1910.1020(d)(1)(ii)
“Employee exposure records.” Each employee exposure record shall be preserved and maintained for at least thirty (30) years,
Other relevant info:
1910.1020(c)(6)
“Employee medical record” means a record concerning the health status of an employee which is made or maintained by a physician, nurse, or other health care personnel, or technician, including:
1910.1020(c)(6)(i)(A)
Medical and employment questionnaires or histories (including job description and occupational exposures),
1910.1020(c)(6)(i)(B)
The results of medical examinations (pre-employment, pre-assignment, periodic, or episodic) and laboratory tests (including chest and other X-ray examinations taken for the purpose of establishing a base-line or detecting occupational illnesses and all biological monitoring not defined as an “employee exposure record”)
1910.1020(c)(10)
“Record” means any item, collection, or grouping of information regardless of the form or process by which it is maintained (e.g., paper document, microfiche, microfilm, X-ray film, or automated data processing).
1910.1020(c)(10)
“Record” means any item, collection, or grouping of information regardless of the form or process by which it is maintained (e.g., paper document, microfiche, microfilm, X-ray film, or automated data processing).
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