As the virus evolves, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has updated its Frequently Asked Questions on the topic of face masks in the workplace.
Previously, OSHA recommended that employers should encourage face coverings while at work. However, employers held the discretion in their hands, depending on state and local laws, as to whether to allow cloth face coverings. Aspects that went into these decisions included safety, environmental, or workplace hazards as well as an employee’s medical needs. In the end, OSHA had recommended that if cloth face coverings are not reasonable in the work environment, employers should still encourage the use of personal protective equipment, face shields, and surgical masks.
Unfortunately, under OSHA’s new recommendations, not much has changed substantively. While OSHA continues to suggest the use of face coverings in the workplace, citing that these coverings are intended to prevent wearers who have COVID-19 without knowing from possibly spreading the disease, OSHA has stopped short of requiring face masks in the workplace.
The key takeaway is that OSHA has yet to mandate face masks in the workplace, however, your employer may require you to wear one. In addition, on July 22, 2020, Governor DeWine ordered a mandate that requires Ohio citizens in all Ohio counties to wear a face mask in public. Therefore, beginning July 23, 2020, at 6:00 pm, face masks are mandated if you work indoors at a non-residence and outdoors if you are unable to maintain a social distance of 6 feet. However, this new mandate makes exceptions if: “The individual is alone in an enclosed space, such as an office, or in lieu of an enclosed space, the individual is separated by at least six feet in all directions from all other individuals, and in either case the space is not intended for use or access by the public.” Therefore, if proper precautions are taken, an employer may still operate without requiring its employees to don face masks in the workplace.