Question: What should healthcare employers do to protect healthcare workers from exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19?

Answer:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and OSHA are providing extensive guidance for infection prevention in healthcare settings. OSHA's guidance materials include:

• The Healthcare section of the COVID-19 Safety and Health Topics page
• The high and very high exposure risk sections of the Guidance for Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 booklet (Spanish)

Both agencies' guidance materials describe how healthcare employers should develop and implement infection control and preparedness plans and communicate those plans to workers through effective training. Employers should assess the risks and follow the hierarchy of controls for worker protection:

• Engineering controls (e.g., airborne infection isolation rooms);
• Administrative controls (e.g., cohorting patients);
• Work practices (e.g., handwashing, disinfecting surfaces); and
• Appropriate personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, respirators, face shields or other eye protection, and gowns).

For information on protecting healthcare workers from exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, please see:

• OSHA's COVID-19 Safety and Health Topics page
• Enforcement guidance for COVID-19
• Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 (Spanish)
• Worker Exposure Risk to COVID-19 (Spanish)
• Alert: Prevent Worker Exposure to Coronavirus (COVID-19) (Spanish)
• CDC's COVID-19 website
• COVID-19 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Disclosures to law enforcement, paramedics, other first responders and public health authorities