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Earlier this week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the NYS Health Commissioner has designated COVID-19 a highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health under New York State's HERO Act, which requires all employers to implement workplace safety plans in the event of an airborne infectious disease, helping to prevent workplace infections. The NY HERO Act mandates workplace health and safety protections in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the law, all employers are required to adopt a workplace safety plan, and implement it for all airborne infectious diseases designated by the New York State Department of Health. Because of today’s designation announcement, employers are now required to implement their safety plans. Employers were able to adopt their own safety plans in compliance with HERO Act standards or use one of the models created by NYS Dept. of Labor. • Click here to review the model airborne and infectious disease exposure prevention plan. • Click here to review the model airborne and infectious disease exposure prevention plan for the CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY. Per the NYS Dept. of Health, this designation will remain in effect until September 30, 2021. At that point the Commissioner will review the level of transmission of COVID-19 in the state and determine whether to continue this designation. • Click here to learn more about the New York State Hero Act. • Click here to review the airborne infectious disease exposure prevention standard