Employers Must Create a COVID Response Plan

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

With cases of COVID-19 continuing to rise in many areas, agricultural employers are far from in the clear on taking precautions for their workers. If you’re wondering whether or not you are doing enough, there are resources that can help.

McAvoy… “CDC has what they call guidance for agricultural workers. Which is a step by step checklist that you could use. You could use it as a self-assessment. And see where you might have deficiencies.”

That’s Gene McAvoy, associate director for stakeholder relations at the University of Florida IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center. He says not only is having a COVID response plan the right thing to do for employees, it’s also an OSHA requirement.

McAvoy… “Another thing that ag employers need to be aware of: COVID-19 is an OSHA reportable illness. If you're not taking certain precautions, you could be cited as an employer and you could be fine as an employer. So it's really important, you know, just to protect oneself as an ag employer that you have that plan in place. So if you know, there's an outbreak on your farm, you can show the inspector when they come: this is our plan. This is what we're doing. Here are the educational materials that we're using.”

These materials can be found on the CDC or University of Florida IFAS websites.