Memorandum
Date: March 2, 2021
To: The Honorable Bruno Sabatier, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Jeff Rein, Risk Manager/Safety Officer
Subject: Consideration of COVID-19 Prevention Program
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
The attached COVID-19 Prevention Program is presented for your Board's consideration. This program document reflects the regulatory standards issued by CalOSHA on November 30, 2020. Since November 30th, CalOSHA has issued several rounds of FAQ's, including as recently as January 26, 2021, for the purpose of providing further clarification about these regulatory standards. The attached COVID-19 Prevention Program reflects the latest clarifying guidance.
The purpose of CalOSHA's regulations is to consolidate, clarify, and support previously established COVID-19 legislation, (AB 685 & SB 1159), relevant Executive Orders that had been issued by the Governor, as well as various COVID-19 "guidelines" that CalOSHA had disseminated. Collectively, these require employers to create procedures to identify and evaluate COVID-19 hazards; to control the hazard of exposure; to respond to employees who have been diagnosed with, have symptoms of, or have been exposed to COVID-19; to identify modes of transmission in the workplace and adopt and implement preventive measures to minimize risk; and to institute employee training; among other requirements.
While CalOSHA's regulatory framework may be relatively new, its requirements have been routinely implemented in Lake County concurrent with the underlying legislation, applicable Executive Orders, and CalOSHA guidelines. As an example, the heart of the COVID-19 Prevention Program is the Worksite Protection Protocol that your board initially adopted on May 19, 2020 and reapproved various times since and as recently as February 9th. Consequently, the ongoing fiscal impact of this Plan has likely been absorbed within the County budget.
Upon adoption, t...
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