COVID-19 Updates
Vaccines: Minnesota recently published the list of priorities for COVID vaccinations. Employees who work in manufacturing are in Phase 1b—Tier 3. Those who work in transportation, including vehicle repair and maintenance, are in Phase 1C. More information is available here: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/vaccine/phase1b1c2.pdf
- As of March 3, the Minnesota Department of Health was estimating these workers would be eligible for their vaccines by May, although they are already ahead of schedule.
- To receive updates on vaccine eligibility and availability, including notification when you are eligible, sign up for the COVID-19 Vaccine Connector at https://vaccineconnector.mn.gov/
COVID-19 Preparedness Plan updates: Your preparedness plan should be updated as new information is available. Make sure your plan includes protocols for employees who have received the vaccination.
An Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for COVID-19? Federal OSHA needs to decide by March 15 if it will issue one. It appears likely they will issue an ETS, but we are expecting it to be delayed. Will Minnesota need to adopt that? Minnesota has been using the General Duty Clause to enforce compliance with the Governor’s mandate for COVID protection plans.
Reference: https://www.aiha.org/blog/coming-soon-an-emergency-temporary-standard-on-covid-19
From N95s to Homemade Cloth Masks – What Face Mask to Wear, and How to Make Them More Effective
Aerosols, particulates, viruses, masks, and COVID transmission: One of the major frustrations of this pandemic has been about masks – do they help? How much do they help? Why were they originally discouraged? Should we be wearing two or three or four or …?
When safety and health professionals think about masks for protection, the minimum we think of are N95 filtering facepieces. OSHA considers those protective up to ten times an exposure limit (a protection factor of 10), if they are proven to fit well. The 95 in N95 means the filter material can remove at least 95% of particles that are 0.3 microns in size. They are even more efficient at removing smaller particles and larger particles – because of how particles are captured, that 0.3 micron size is the hardest to remove.
In the early days of the pandemic, we needed to save those for people who really needed them, such as health care workers in close contact with infected people. So health authorities said, “no masks.”
As we learned that transmission was occurring from “respiratory emissions,” the droplets people emit when they breathe or talk or laugh, it became clear that asking people to keep their distance from each other was not, alone, going to be effective. In theory, those moisture-laden emissions are big particles which soon settle out of the air. In practice, it doesn’t happen that cleanly. The virus-laden droplets of moisture can dry out. Air currents or the force of a sneeze can carry the droplets some distance. So the edict changed to “wear masks.” Fabric, even lightweight fabric, in front of your nose and mouth will capture those droplets, keeping you from infecting others. N95 filtering facepieces would be great choices – but those can still be hard to find. And there’s a bias against everyone wearing N95 filtering facepieces: those are classified as respirators. If people need to use respirators, they must be clean-shaven where the respirator seals to the face, medically certified as able to wear them, trained, and fit-tested to ensure the respirator provides that protection factor of ten. Besides, we need to make sure there are enough N95s for people who really need that high level of protection.
Wearing any old fabric over the mouth and nose might capture those moisture-laden emissions, but it may not do a good job of protecting the wearer from virus particles that come from other people. And it may not do a good enough job of stopping all the virus particles you emit. But there are simple measures to improve how well even cloth masks work:
- Choose a mask that fits closely to your face and that has a nose clip, so it seals around your nose. Be aware that beards will prevent close fits.
- If you wear a cloth mask, opt for one made of tightly woven fabric and at least double thickness. You should not be able to see through it.
- Wear it correctly! You breathe in and out through your nose, so the mask has to cover your nose. It does no good if your nose sticks out.
- Stay away from poorly ventilated or crowded spaces.
The Physics of Face Masks
Want to know how N95 respirators work? See The astounding physics of n95 masks
N95 Product Recommendation
We found a NIOSH-approved N95 filtering facepiece that doesn’t have straps—it adheres to your face. Janet Keyes, CIH, and Carol Keyes, CSP, have been wearing them for the past couple of months. We find they are easier to breathe through and easier to communicate. We’ve been able to reuse them up to eight times. We have a short video on our website about them.
To get a discount when you order the ReadiMask here, enter CHESS20 for the coupon code.
Didn’t we just say that N95s need to be saved for people who need that high level of protection? That’s absolutely true for any surgical N95, those that are also FDA-certified. And the N95s that health care providers usually purchase, those from the well-known manufacturers, are hard to get. ReadiMask is still trying to gain a foothold in the market.
OSHA Updates
Federal OSHA has issued a proposed rule to update the Hazard Communication standard (the federal version of Minnesota’s Right to Know/Hazard Communication standard). The main purpose of the change is to update the rule so it agrees with the most recent version of the guidance document on which it is based, the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) Revision 7. This is an early step in the revision of the standard – it may take some time until a final rule is published (by which time the GHS document might be on another revision!).
This revision isn’t likely to put any new burdens on the end users. People who are responsible for producing safety data sheets may need to update their SDSs.
Reference: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-02-16/pdf/2020-28987.pdf
Fire Prevention and Safety
The National Fire Protection Association has put out a Desk Reference for the Fire Service and Fire and Life Safety Educators, available at https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/Public-Education/Resources/Educational-messaging/EMAC/EducationalMessagesDeskReference.pdf.
While it’s a dry read in its entirety, it has a lot of very good, simple advice on preventing fires and burns, particularly away from work. Topics include home fire escape, cooking, heating, electrical safety, lightning, battery safety, pet fire safety and clothes dryers. Many of the tips are worth reviewing with your family – for instance, do you know how to handle 9 volt or lithium ion batteries safely? Have you been using space heaters safely? Here are a few tips:
- Use battery-operated, flameless candles. They are safer for kids and pets, too.
- Keep your dryer lint filter cleaned
- Have portable fire extinguishers in your home. Fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors make great wedding and house-warming gifts.
- Make sure surge protectors and power strips have internal overload protection (they trip and turn off if you overload them)