OTA Dispatch Issue 2, 2021

22 Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch COVID-19’s Permanent Impact on Safety By Christa Wendland, OTA Communication Consultant THE APPEARANCE of the first modern-day global pandemic (but not the last, according to some), changed the world’s perspective on safety—in the workplace and out. The trucking industry, of course, was not immune (no pun intended) from the impacts of COVID-19. Given the uniqueness of how trucking interacts with the public on the frontline, finding ways to keep drivers and other workers safe became a top priority. Not an easy task as guidelines and requirements continued to change. In Oregon, as of early June, counties are still being bounced between risk levels, vaccines are being touted as the only way to end the pandemic and Gov. Brown has promised to lift her emergency declaration and fully open the state at the end of June… if exposure and hospitalization rates continue to improve. With all these promises of improvement, the Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OR-OSHA) issued their “permanent” rule regarding COVID-19 Public Health Emergency in All Oregon Workplaces. OR-OSHA pursued this permanent rule because their temporary rule could only be in place for so long. OR-OSHA’s temporary rule addressing COVID-19 in the workplace expired May 4, 2021, 180 days after its adoption. Under the Oregon Administrative Procedures Act, a temporary rule cannot be renewed or extended beyond 180 days. With Oregon dragging out restrictions and the emergency declaration, a permanent rule was required. While Oregon employers expected this move, they did not expect additional requirements and no specific end date in the text of the proposed permanent rule. OTA and over 5,000 other organizations and individuals submitted comments to OR-OSHA on the differences between the temporary rule and the permanent rule—the most comments OR-OSHA has ever received. The volume of comments resulted in OR-OSHA adding specific language on the identified issues. The permanent Oregon COVID-19 Workplace Rules went into effect May 4, 2021. The rules will likely not be repealed until at least July,