January 8, 2021

Dear Ms. Doss & Health & Safety Code Board:

One behalf of the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance (VTCA), we are pleased to submit comments related to the proposed permanent Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention.  The health and safety of our members workforce continue to be the top priority.  Most firms have strict policies in place to telework whenever possible and not to travel unnecessarily to in-person meetings.  We have learned a significant amount about working with the omnipresent threat of COVID-19, and have the following suggestions to offer based on our experiences.

We support efforts for the Governor’s Emergency Declaration.  Temporary standards enable the board and the construction industry flexibility to respond and adjust to outbreaks. 

We oppose making the temporary standard permanent.   Science and health are evolving around treatment and prevention to COVID-19.  What some in the health community thought were viable solutions 10 months ago now appear to not be the best solution and, in some cases, have made individual situations worse.  We suggest you keep the standards temporary and adjust those standards until science can better predict outcomes.     

If a permanent standard is enacted, it should only relate to the current public health crisis related to COVID-19. All companies have enacted new protocols in the last ten months and have updated and revised those protocols within the last six months based on guidance from public health officials. This has required many employees without any medical training to become de facto health officers to determine if employees may be infected.  Since teleworking is not an option in most transportation construction jobs, companies utilize the best information they have – most of which is required to be reported by the employee – to determine an employee’s fitness to work. Expanding this permanent standard any further would create additional, unnecessary challenges for industries such as ours.

Given that our member companies, which have been essential businesses since the onset of the pandemic, have gained valuable experience safely working with the threat of COVID-19 and within the parameters of the standard.  We strongly believe adjustments need to be made if a permanent standard is to be created. We concur with others that the Board should reject the proposed regulations and convene a workgroup of stakeholders to revise and recommend a new set of emergency temporary standard which would expire within 6 months or at the end of the Governor’s Emergency Declaration. 

Sincerely,

Gordon Dixon

Executive Vice President