November 3, 2021 Newsletter

COVID-19 Updates and Frequently Asked Questions

COVID continues to impact our lives, at home, at play, and at work. While the most recent surge seems to be calming down, we have had an uptick in questions about COVID again. And winter, when everyone is inside, brings concerns about another surge. Because many people still are not vaccinated, the virus continues to have chances to mutate and spread.

What do I need to do if an employee tests positive?

Send the positive employee home to quarantine. 

Determine which other employees have had close contact with the employee who tested positive. Close contact is being less than six feet away for 15 minutes or longer within any 24-hour period.

Employees who had close contact with a COVID-positive person:

If they are not fully vaccinated, require that they:

• Stay home (quarantine).
• Get tested for COVID immediately. If the test is negative, they should test again three to five days after their last exposure to the employee who is positive.
• Watch for symptoms for 14 days.
• They could come back to work at the 7-day mark if they test negative after five days and continue to have no symptoms.

If they are fully vaccinated, require that they:

• Wear a mask at work in public and indoors for 14 days following exposure.
• Get tested for COVID three to five days after exposure.
• Watch for symptoms for 14 days.
• They do not have to quarantine unless they start to have symptoms.

If the employee had COVID in the past three months:

• Does not need to be tested unless they develop new symptoms.
• Does not need to quarantine if ALL of the following are true:

• • They tested positive for COVID in the past three months.
  • They have fully recovered.
  • They do not currently have any symptoms of COVID-19.

Who needs to quarantine?

Anyone who:

• tests positive.
• lives with someone who has COVID.
• has had close contact with someone who has COVID.
• Has symptoms of COVID.

How long do they have to quarantine?

The safest option is 14 days quarantine.

Quarantine can end on day 10 if the employee has not had any symptoms and tested negative for COVID after seven days. They should continue to watch for symptoms, wear a mask and keep their distance until at least day 14.

What if the employee tests positive and has symptoms?

Quarantine can end if these three conditions are met:

• Symptoms are improving (employee feels better, cough or shortness of breath is improving), and
• It has been at least 10 days since the employee first felt sick, and
• The employee has not had a fever for at least 24 hours (and is not using medicine for the fever).

Quarantine can end after seven days if all of the following are true:

• The employee knows the last date exposure to the positive person occurred, and
• The employee has a negative PCR test five to six days after the exposure, and
• The employee has no symptoms, and
• No one in the employee’s home has COVID, and
• The employee can work alone at work, keeping distance from others and wearing a mask whenever being in the same room as others cannot be avoided.

Who should get tested?

• Anyone with symptoms of COVID (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, loss of taste or smell, nausea, etc.)
• Anyone who has come in close contact with someone with COVID.
  • If vaccinated, test 5-7 days after last exposure.
  • If NOT vaccinated, test immediately, and again in 5 to 7 days.

Where can employees get tested and what is the cost?

Testing is still free in Minnesota. The state has recently opened more rapid test sites, along with sites offering the PCR test. Employees can also order a home test kit (saliva test), but will need access to Zoom to take the test.

More information and site locations are available here: https://mn.gov/covid19/get-tested/testing-locations/index.jsp

What if an employee refuses to get tested?

They need to quarantine for the entire 14 days. 

If someone is not vaccinated and lives with someone who has COVID, how long do they have to quarantine and is there any way they can work?

They have to quarantine for 14 days after their last exposure to the person with COVID.

• If Susan tests positive on November 1, her quarantine ends November 15.
• If Susan’s child tested positive and Susan is the child’s primary caregiver, Susan should stay home for fourteen days after her child has completed the isolation period, which lasts ten days after the child’s symptoms started or after the child tested positive. Susan may need to quarantine for as long as 24 days!
• The Minnesota Department of Health has a good example that walks you through calculating quarantine time: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/close.html

Employees who are quarantined can work if their work allows them to work from home.

OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard?

OSHA has been tasked with developing an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for COVID-19 that would require employers with 100 or more employees (company-wide) to require vaccinations or weekly testing of employees who are not vaccinated. As of the date that this newsletter is being written, the ETS has not yet been published, but it is expected to be in the Federal Register in early November. Once federal OSHA publishes the standard, Minnesota OSHA has 30 days to adopt it as proposed, or to adopt something more stringent (such as lowering the employer size). We have not heard anything about what Minnesota plans to do. But watch for our next newsletter, which will be about the ETS.

Reporting Time: OSHA Recordkeeping and Environmental Deadlines

It’s almost that time of year again.  Note the following deadlines, through April 1, for OSHA recordkeeping, hazardous waste generators and air quality permit holders.  If our contract with you includes assistance with reporting, Noel will be contacting you soon to set up appointments.

When	What	Who’s Affected
December 15	Hazardous waste management reports due for Hennepin County	Hennepin County SQG and VSQG hazardous waste generators
December 31	Wastewater sampling due	Those holding MCES wastewater permits
January 31	Hazardous waste management annual report and license renewal for all metro counties, except Hennepin County	SQG and VSQG hazardous waste generators
January 31	Industrial wastewater discharge report due	Those holding MCES wastewater permits
January 31	OSHA 300A log summary – post from February 1 until April 30	Employers with 10 or more employees at any time during the year
March 1	Tier II reports due	Companies that have more than threshold amounts of specific chemicals
March 2	OSHA 300A must be submitted electronically to osha.gov	In MN, any company with 20 or more employees
March 31	Industrial Stormwater annual reports due	Companies within specific industry codes. Does not affect companies with No Exposure exclusion.
April 1	Air permit (VOC) reports due (forms should be mailed in mid-Dec to early Jan)	Air Quality Permit B, C and Permit D holders

For companies outside the Twin Cities metro area, hazardous waste reports are not due until Aug 1, but it is a good idea to gather your information early in the year. You can submit as early as April.

*If you have an air quality permit B, C or D, you may be eligible to void your permit. We can explain that to you; just give us a call.

If you voided your air permit, you must still maintain records of paint purchases, so continue to ask your jobber for an annual VOC report.

If you are a CHESS maintenance client, we will be contacting you to set up a time to help complete your recordkeeping.  If you are not a maintenance client and would like assistance, please contact Carol at 651‑842‑9210 or carkey@chess-safety.com.

Fire Extinguisher Maintenance

A now out-of-business fire extinguisher service company failed to do the required 6-year and 12-year checks of clients’ extinguishers. As a result, its clients now need to replace all of their extinguishers – a very large and very avoidable cost.

Because fire extinguishers are your first defense in a fire, they must be maintained to ensure they work when needed. That requires action on your part, but also requires the help of a qualified service provider. You need to verify, each month, that the extinguisher is accessible and usable. Each year, your service provider needs to check that the extinguisher is in good condition. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to ensure extinguishers are maintained.

Your service provider should be doing yearly detailed external examinations of the extinguishers. They also need to do internal examinations of your ABC extinguishers every six years and hydrostatic testing of those every twelve years. Carbon dioxide extinguishers require internal examinations every five years.

How do you know if your service provider is effectively maintaining your extinguishers? Look for maintenance records on the extinguishers themselves. The labels need to clearly state who completed what service and when (date and year). Look for:

• Annual inspection tag, giving the type of extinguisher and date of inspection
• Type of extinguisher (this should be clear to read)
• Six-year inspection label
• 12 year hydrostatic label

If any of these tags and labels is illegible or missing from your extinguishers, call your service provider right away.

More information on fire extinguisher maintenance is available here: https://www.nfpa.org/news-and-research/publications-and-media/blogs-landing-page/nfpa-today/blog-posts/2020/10/30/guide-to-fire-extinguisher-inspection-testing-and-maintenance