Today, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration published new guidance jointly with the Centers for Disease Control addressing COVID-19 related matters in the meat and poultry processing industries.
As part of the guidance, OSHA discusses employer screening of employees for COVID-19 symptoms, including checking the temperature of employees, a practice now required by a growing number of state and local jurisdictions. In a footnote to the guidance, OSHA advises that employers should assess the burdens and benefits of recording workers’ temperatures or asking employees to answer written questionnaires because “these types of written products become records that must be retained for the duration of the workers’ employment plus 30 years.”
Employers wishing to review OSHA’s Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records Standard, which further details OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, can find the standard on OSHA’s website.