![]() Reportable illnesses are not limited to instances when the employee becomes ill at work. Reports must be made immediately, but not longer than eight hours after the employer knows or with diligent inquiry would have known of the serious illness. (See section 330(h).) This means that if a worker becomes ill while at work and is admitted as in-patient at a hospital - regardless of the duration of the hospitalization - the illness occurred in a place of employment, so the employer must report this illness to the nearest Cal/OSHA office. (See section 342(a).) This includes a COVID-19 illness if it meets the definition of serious illness.Ī serious illness includes, among other things, any illness occurring in a place of employment or in connection with any employment that requires inpatient hospitalization for other than medical observation or diagnostic testing. In addition to the recordkeeping requirements discussed above, California employers must also report to Cal/OSHA any serious illness, serious injury or death of an employee that occurred at work or in connection with work within eight hours of when they knew or should have known of the illness. See title 8 section 14300.5 for details and the exceptions. Whether the employee had work-related contact with anyone who exhibited signs and symptoms of COVID-19.Physical distancing and other controls that impact the likelihood of work-related exposure.The type, extent and duration of contact the employee had at the work environment with other people, particularly the general public.Employers should consider factors such as: If there is not a known exposure that would trigger the presumption of work-relatedness, the employer must evaluate the employee’s work duties and environment to determine the likelihood that the employee was exposed during the course of their employment. Given the disease’s incubation period of 3 to 14 days, exposures will usually be determined after the fact. An injury or illness is presumed to be work-related if it results from events or exposures occurring in the work environment unless an exception in section 14300.5(b)(2) specifically applies.Ī work-related exposure in the work environment would include interaction with people known to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) working in the same area where people known to have been carrying SARS-CoV-2 had been or sharing tools, materials or vehicles with persons known to have been carrying SARS-CoV-2. For recordkeeping purposes, an injury or illness is considered work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition, or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness.
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