The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued more than $23,000 in fines to two businesses for refusing to carry out steps to help protect workers from the coronavirus disease.
Following complaints, Oregon OSHA inspectors found both employers — Café 22 West in Salem, Oregon, and Howard’s Pharmacy in Lakeview, Oregon — “willfully failing to implement health hazard control measures” such as mandating face coverings and physical distancing, and continuing to operate in hazardous conditions despite having been put on notice well before the inspection itself began, according to a statement.
Café 22 West was fined 13,900 and Howards Pharmacy was fined $9,400.
Since March, Oregon OSHA has issued 18 citations to employers for violating requirements to protect workers from COVID-19 with fines ranging from $100 to $14,000.
More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division has released plans to create a COVID-19 workplace safety standard that could be a permanent standard for infectious diseases, according to a timeline made public Friday.