OSHA Gives Direction on COVID-19 Employee Screenings

Words: Jeff Buczkiewicz

Recently, OSHA announced that employers taking documented temperature screenings and/or asking employees to fill out written symptom surveys (as recommended by the CDC and in some cases required by local or states governments) must comply with the Access Rule. What does this mean? This means those records must be saved by the employer for the duration of the employment of each employee plus 30 years. As a result, the MCAA (as part of the Construction Industry Safety Coalition through the CISC law firm, is sending a letter appealing this clarification and questioning the validity and applicability for the Access Rule. 

 

This ruling would encourage contractors to either not do screenings or not to record the screenings, which is counter to the intent of doing them. The MCAA will continue to give updates on this issue and others as they develop. Make sure you monitor your newsletters for details.

The Science of a Straight Line: Why Masonry’s Smallest Decisions Make the Biggest Differences
September 2026

There is a unique phenomenon in construction: the human eye can spot an out-of-plumb wall from 50 yards away across a crowded job site. We might not always be able to explain the exact mathematical deviation without a laser level, but our brains instantly

The Utah Masonry Council's Masonry Education Day
September 2026

The 2026 Masonry Education Day at Interstate Brick in West Jordan is bringing together members of Utah’s architecture, engineering, and construction community for a day focused on education, technical understanding, and workforce development. The event r

MCAA Upstate New York: Regaining Market Share Through Education
September 2026

The Upstate New York chapter of the MCAA was established in 2014 by a dedicated group of both union and non-union masonry contractors, producers, and suppliers who shared concerns about the declining use of masonry. T

GEN NXT: Luis Sontay
September 2026

For this month, the MCAA got to sit down with aspiring mason Luis Sontay. From taking an interest in masonry as a kid to placing 1st in a postsecondary competition, Luis’ dedication and passion for the trade is clear. Luis describes his early passion fo