Federal safety officials will hold employers responsible for recording cases of coronavirus only if it is work-related, the U.S. Labor Dept.'s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said April 10, responding to requests from employers.

从离开行业雇主寻求指导ment last month, after it seemed to place responsibility on them for recording all cases among employees. That practice, employers argued, would have distorted safety records and burdened employers with record-keeping for illnesses contracted at home or away from the job.

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In a备忘录, OSHA wrote that employers need not record instances of infected employees unless the case is confirmed as COVID-19, as defined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the case is work-related. A number of cases among employees who work together is one indication to an employer that the case is work-related. If workers or employees give employers evidence that the case was work-related, employers must record the case.

雇主有责任报告,而不是记录,导致工人在工作场所外工作或需要治疗的伤害和疾病。

Separate criteria require employers to maintain OSHA 300 logs of all workplace injuries. Such logs are important for employers to understand safety flaws and may be inspected by OSHA at any time, especially if there is an accident investigation.

建筑行业安全联盟包括承包商协会,例如相关的建筑商和承包商,已要求the clarification from OSHA on March 23.

"Treating confirmed cases of COVID-19 as typical 'illnesses' under the rule has the potential to skew the national statistics on injuries and illnesses and put construction employers in an almost impossible position of determining work-relatedness for a virus that is spread easily—like the common cold and flu—and is becoming widespread in all communities across the country," the coalition wrote.

美国广播公司(ABC)在一份声明中说,最新的OSHA指南“将继续让承包商专注于采取必要的步骤,以确保遵守疾病控制和预防中心以及整体工作场所安全的健康建议。”