MNOSHA permanently adopts federal COVID-19 ETS recordkeeping, reporting standards

On November 21, 2022, Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MNOSHA) adopted COVID-19 recordkeeping and reporting provisions left over from the withdrawn federal emergency standard (ETS) issued on June 21, 2021. Specifically, the agency adopted provisions not withdrawn in the federal ETS, including COVID-19 log and reporting provisions.

Log and report

The adopted standard requires employers with more than 10 employees to establish and maintain a COVID-19 log to record each instance in which an employee tests positive, regardless of whether it’s connected to exposure at work.

In addition, employers must report to MNOSHA each work-related COVID-19 fatality within eight hours of learning about it and each work-related COVID-19 in-patient hospitalization within 24 hours of learning about it, regardless of when the fatality or hospitalization occurred. This is more stringent than the non-COVID regulation, which states an employer must report a fatality only if it occurs within 30 days of the work-related incident. Likewise, non-COVID in-patient hospitalizations need to be reported if they occur within 24 hours of the work-related incident.

Bottom line

Despite most of the federal ETS being withdrawn, federal OSHA and MNOSHA have kept stringent recordkeeping and reporting guidelines. MNOSHA’s adoption of the COVID-19-related recordkeeping and reporting standards ensures that, while the coronavirus may be at or near an endemic stage, employers in Minnesota cannot forget or ignore it into the foreseeable future.