On August 4th, the White House declared monkeypox a public health emergency. This declaration follows an earlier declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) when they declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Now is the time that employers should be thinking about monkeypox workplace safety.
Monkeypox cases are climbing every day around the world. As of August 4th, there were 26,200 cases worldwide with 6,616 of the cases in the United States. These numbers rose quickly causing growing concerns resulting in the public health emergency declarations. So if we learned anything from COVID-19, employers should be proactive as infected individuals are contagious and once diagnosed could be out of the workplace for weeks.
Monkeypox Workplace Safety
While OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has not issued any guidance at this point, employers are required to provide a safe and healthy work environment under general OSHA standards. Employers must maintain a workplace free from known hazards that may injure or endanger the health of an employee.
If monkeypox becomes more prevalent in your community or workplace, employers should have plans in place that include the following.
- Education on how monkeypox is transmitted
- Education on monkeypox signs and symptoms
- Prevention in the workplace
- Policies if an employee gets monkeypox including return to work requirements
- Confidentiality of medical information in communications and keeping a separate, secure file from the personnel file
- Employee compliance training
