LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved updates to the workplace regulations for county employees, changes made possible by state-level action last week.
On Thursday, the Cal/OSHA Board updated its regulations to come into line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health, as Lake County News has reported.
Until that action was taken, the county of Lake — the largest employer in Lake County, with about 1,000 employees — had been caught between conflicting state and federal rules.
Following Thursday’s action, the county began finalizing the latest updates to county workplace rules and sent out notification about the changes to employees, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Huchingson said Human Resources Director Pam Samac made sure employees were notified of the changes on Thursday night.
Samac told the board that county staff was excited to see Cal/OSHA update its rules to match the CDC’s guidance.
“We’ve got some very happy employees,” she said.
Among the changes to the protocol is a new addendum which is a certification of vaccination status for employees to fill out.
“Per Cal OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards we are required to collect information about your vaccination status,” the form says.
People can choose to disclose that they are full or partially vaccinated, not vaccinated, or they can decline to answer.
As of Tuesday morning, Samac said the county had received back 400 of those certifications.
Altogether, nine sections of the protocol have been updated, including the sections on facial coverings for vaccinated versus unvaccinated employees, she said.
Cal/OSHA’s “Emergency Temporary Standards” require employers “to provide unvaccinated employees with face coverings or N95 masks and ensure they are worn over the nose and mouth when indoors and when outdoors, and within 6 feet of another,” the county protocol explains.
Fully vaccinated employees are not required to wear face coverings indoors unless they are in certain situations, including being on public transit, in school and health care settings, correctional facilities and detention centers, homeless and emergency shelters, and cooling centers, the document said.
Samac said the county must provide facial coverings to staff who request them. The protocol said fully vaccinated employees can request, and must be provided, face coverings or N95 masks.
The protocol requires unvaccinated employees to wear face masks indoors unless they are alone in a room, using a respirator or respiratory protection, they cannot use a face covering due to a medical or mental condition, if they are hearing impaired or communicating with a hearing-impaired person, when specific work tasks cannot be performed with a face covering or when other measures to protect against COVID-19 infection must be implemented when face coverings cannot be used.
Samac said employees must still keep high touch areas clean and frequently wipe them down as necessary.
Regarding physical distance, there is no longer a need to have physical barriers and social distancing for employees, she said.
However, Samac said the county still needs to keep barriers in place in front-facing customer service areas to protect employees because they don't have 100-percent vaccination among employees at this point.
For vaccinated employees who come into close contact with a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, the protocol said they do not need to quarantine or be tested, but unvaccinated employees are to be instructed to quarantine for up to 10 days.
Samac said they also have eliminated an employee travel ban, and still need to offer remote telecommuting to high risk employees, where appropriate.
The board voted unanimously to approve the amended County of Lake COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Worksite Protocol and bring it back for future changes on an as-needed basis.
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