Coronavirus Risks and Opportunities - Ensuring Safe Business Operations in Compliance with the Updated Laws
This webinar will provide an overview of
measures that businesses can take to reduce their vulnerability to further
disruption by COVID-19 and similar illnesses while they protect workers and
other stakeholders such as customers, and also contribute to public health by
"flattening the curve."
The good news is that there is a wide array of
proven off-the-shelf countermeasures such as social distancing, workplace
controls, and face masks that impede the spread of contagious diseases. OSHA
has already released authoritative guidance that is likely to be embodied in a
formal standard later this year, but proactive organizations can have most of the
requirements in place before they become mandatory. Many jobs can be performed
remotely which eliminates the risk of contagion completely, and also reduces
costs of a physical presence such as office or classroom space, and commuting
and lodging costs. Organizations must also reassess supply chain
vulnerabilities to force majeure and even intentional (as threatened by China)
disruption.
WHY
SHOULD YOU ATTEND
The coronavirus epidemic has already caused
enormous human and economic damage, and is making a dangerous resurgence
because people are letting their guard down, not using face masks, and ignoring
social distancing guidelines much as they did in 1918. The disease has also
undergone mutations that make it more contagious and may defeat the vaccines that
are in the pipeline. Organizations must therefore plan and implement
countermeasures to protect workers and other stakeholders, and ensure
continuity of operations.
The good news is however that the disease can
be stopped with existing technology including social distancing, face masks,
basic hygiene and some workplace controls. Diligent compliance with these
countermeasures should have in fact reduced the disease to a manageable
nuisance in April or May, and partial compliance did (along with the annual vaccine)
end the 2019-2020 flu season a good month early. The disease remains a menace
only because people are going to large gatherings, not wearing face masks, and
otherwise not taking it seriously.
Businesses whose nature still requires a
physical workplace presence face, however, the prospect of OSHA regulations to
protect workers from diseases like COVID-19. The HEROES Act (Health and
Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act), which has already passed
the House of Representatives as of mid-July 2020, will require OSHA to develop
such a standard, with which businesses must then comply. OSHA's "Guidance
on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19" from March 2020 gives a good preview
of what to expect, and it will be covered in the webinar.
COVID-19 outbreak has also caused substantial
supply chain disruption, and interruption of a supply chain can shut down any
business regardless of its quality or its ability to protect its own workers
from COVID-19. China has threatened openly to cut off supplies of rare earths
and, more recently, lifesaving drugs.
The good news is however that the epidemic has
forced businesses and schools to implement work-from-home, distance education,
and remote conferencing, all of which eliminate costs of commuting and physical
office or classroom space. Now that these technologies have been made to work,
there is no reason to go back to the old ways of doing business. This creates
an entirely new set of opportunities to reduce costs, increase profits, and
increase wages.
AREAS
COVERED
• COVID-19 is an extremely lethal and
contagious disease that makes it dangerous for people to gather in substantial
numbers in, for example, workplaces and entertainment venues. It has also
impacted businesses due to shutdowns and supply chain interruptions.
• The countermeasures against COVID-19 work by reducing the disease's basic
reproduction number, or the average number of people to whom an infected one
will give the disease, to less than 1. Diligent compliance with social
distancing and face mask usage should have achieved this during the first half
of 2020, but people repeated instead the mistakes of 1918 by letting their
guard down as soon as the disease appeared to go away. The mediocre compliance
that was achieved did, however, end the 2019-2020 flu season roughly a month
early.
• The SIR (Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered) model shows how non
pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) like face masks and social distancing, plus
vaccination when available—the latter is what helped the former finish off the
2019-2020 seasonal flu—can not only flatten the curve, but break it to the
extent that the disease goes away.
• If OSHA issues standards or regulations for protection of workers against
COVID-19, workplaces will have to develop appropriate polices and processes.
OSHA's (March 2020) "Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19"
provides a good idea of what to expect, and its content can be acted on
immediately.
• When a job requires respiratory protection (as defined by OSHA), ordinary or
even surgical face masks will not do. The workplace must have a written
respiratory protection program that meets OSHA guidelines, and must use
respirators that meet NIOSH requirements. The good news is however that jobs
defined as medium risk, i.e. most jobs outside of health care and emergency
response applications, will not require this level of protection. Beware of
counterfeit face masks and respirators.
• Non pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as partitions can reduce the
disease's ability to spread.
• Force majeure and intentional (from China) threats to vital supply chains are
a strong argument for reshoring U.S. manufacturing capability.
• The compulsory reactions to the epidemic have actually created highly
lucrative opportunities for proactive organizations that wish to exploit them.
Telecommuting, distance education, and even an online arts festival have proven
that the costs associated with physical presence can be reduced or eliminated
to deliver greater value for all stakeholders (customers, workers, and
investors).
Attendees will receive a copy of the slides
and accompanying notes, and a handout on respiratory protection, and an Excel
spreadsheet with which to illustrate the SIR model. Disclaimer; no part of this
presentation constitutes formal engineering or occupational health and safety
advice. Attendees are encouraged to consult the material from OSHA, ASHRAE, and
the other sources that will be cited in the presentation.
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
This webinar will provide attendees with
information on the epidemiological nature of COVID-19 through the SIR
(Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered) model which illustrates the concept of
flattening the curve. The webinar will then provide actionable information on
how to put this into practice in workplaces to protect employees and customers,
and also how to avoid the risk entirely while reducing costs through
telecommuting, distance conferencing, and distance education.
WHO
WILL BENEFIT
All people with responsibility for reopening
businesses in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as people with
responsibility for occupational health and safety (OH&S) compliance along
with building layouts and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).
SPEAKER
William Levinson is the principal of Levinson
Productivity Systems, P.C. He is an ASQ Fellow, Certified Quality Engineer,
Quality Auditor, Quality Manager, Reliability Engineer, and Six Sigma Black
Belt. He holds degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from Penn State
and Cornell Universities, and night school degrees in business administration
and applied statistics from Union College, and he has given presentations at
the ASQ World Conference, ISO/Lean Six Sigma World Conference, and others.
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