Las Vegas, NV April 02, 2021
The
Division of Industrial Relations has announced the adoption of an emphasis program
to ensure that employees in high-hazard industries or workplaces are protected
from contracting SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
On
January 21, 2021, President Biden issued a Presidential
Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety, which directed the United
States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) to launch a national program to focus OSHA enforcement efforts related
to COVID-19 on violations that put the largest number of workers at serious
risk, and to enforce OSHA’s anti-retaliation mandates.
Nevada
OSHA, operating as an approved state enforcement program, is implementing the provisions
of the national program throughout the state of Nevada to supplement the
agency’s existing COVID-19 mitigation and enforcement efforts.
The
adoption of this new program will guide the agency’s continuing COVID-19 enforcement
actions within industries identified through national and state data as being
at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. High-hazard
industries identified in the emphasis program include: healthcare,
construction, food and agriculture, energy, transportation and logistics,
manufacturing and gaming.
The
program will permit Nevada OSHA to realign inspection resources in a manner
that will protect the largest number of workers likely to be exposed to
COVID-19 based on their job duties, which will in turn reduce the number of unplanned
visits conducted in low-risk industries.
Nevada OSHA will also continue to respond to complaints of workplace health
and safety concerns from any industry.
The COVID-19
national emphasis program is available for review at https://dir.nv.gov/OSHA/Regulations/.
About the Division of Industrial Relations:
The
Nevada Division of Industrial Relations is the principal regulatory agency
responsible for workplace safety and worker protections in the state of Nevada.
Comprised of five sections – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
the Worker’s Compensation Section, the Mechanical Compliance Section, the Mine
Safety and Training Section, and the Safety Consultation and Training Section –
DIR works to protect Nevada’s workforce and provides a broad scope of training
and support to the regulated community. For more information, please visit http://dir.nv.gov
About Nevada OSHA:
Nevada
OSHA operates as an approved state program as defined by section 18 of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and is required by the Act to
operate in a manner that is at least as effective as the federal OSHA
enforcement program. Operating out of district offices in Las Vegas and Reno,
Nevada OSHA conducts inspections and investigations intended to identify
hazardous conditions which could harm Nevada’s workers and enforces state and
federal laws protecting the state’s workers. From July 2019 – June 2020, Nevada
OSHA conducted 714 inspections, issuing an average of 1.6 violations per
inspection. For more information visit http://dir.nv.gov/OSHA/
The
Nevada State Plan, at the time of publication of this media release, is funded
by a grant of $1,602,700 federal funds, which constitutes 50 percent of the
State Plan budget. Fifty percent, or $1,602,700 of the State Plan budget, is
financed through non-governmental sources.
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