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640 OSHA COVID-19 Plan: 1910.50 - Healthcare Requirements
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(q) Recordkeeping

Small employer exclusion: Employers with 10 or fewer employees are not required to comply with the recordkeeping requirements below.

Person looking down at an open binder.
Companies with more than 10 employees maintain records.

Required records: Employers with more than 10 employees must:

  • retain all versions of the COVID-19 plan implemented to comply with this section while this section remains in effect.
  • establish and maintain a COVID-19 log to record each instance identified by the employer in which an employee is COVID-19 positive, regardless of whether the instance is connected to exposure to COVID-19 at work.
    • The COVID-19 log must contain, for each instance, the employee’s name, one form of contact information, occupation, location where the employee worked, the date of the employee’s last day at the workplace, the date of the positive test for, or diagnosis of, COVID-19, and the date the employee first had one or more COVID-19 symptoms, if any were experienced.
    • The information in the COVID-19 log must be recorded within 24 hours of the employer learning that the employee is COVID-19 positive and must be maintained as though it is a confidential medical record and must not be disclosed except as required by this ETS or other federal law.
    • The COVID-19 log must be maintained and preserved while this section remains in effect.

The COVID-19 log is intended to assist employers with tracking and evaluating instances of employees who are COVID-19 positive without regard to whether those employees were infected at work. The tracking will help evaluate potential workplace exposure to other employees.

Availability of records: By the end of the next business day after a request, the employer must provide, for examination and copying:

  • All versions of the written COVID-19 plan to all of the following: any employees, their personal representatives, and their authorized representatives.
  • The individual COVID-19 log entry for a particular employee to that employee and to anyone having written authorized consent of that employee.
  • A version of the COVID-19 log that removes the names of employees, contact information, and occupation, and only includes, for each employee in the COVID-19 log, the location where the employee worked, the last day that the employee was at the workplace before removal, the date of that employee’s positive test for, or diagnosis of, COVID-19, and the date the employee first had one or more COVID-19 symptoms, if any were experienced, to all of the following: any employees, their personal representatives, and their authorized representatives.
  • All records required to be maintained by this section to the Assistant Secretary.

You must continue to record all work-related confirmed cases of COVID-19 on their OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301, or the equivalent forms, if required to do so under 29 CFR part 1904.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-8. Once the employer has knowledge that an employee is COVID-19 positive, when must they record the information in the COVID-19 log?