The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Indiana
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Ind. Code 22-8-1.1-2 (general duty), 22-8-1.1-27.1 (penalties); IOSHA complaint and inspection authority
- Issued
- 2022-09-16 Sept. 16, 2022
- Effective
- Describes IOSHA's enforcement during 2020 and 2021 (all six quarters) (read as 2022-09-16)
- End
- Not applicable (retrospective agency statement)
- In force
- Sept. 16, 2022 (no end date recorded; counted as in force for 120 days)
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- employers (every Indiana employer subject to IOSHA)
- Character
- agency position statement
- Collection
- Standing duties: Indiana DUT-IN
Operative words
While IOSHA by statute is not permitted to enforce beyond existing federal OSHA standards, IOSHA required employers to demonstrate they were following both Centers for Disease Control business COVID guidelines as part of general duty and any guidance federal OSHA recommended. IOSHA collected and reviewed thousands of documents that employers were required to submit in response to complaints.
Penalty
Citations under Ind. Code 22-8-1.1-27.1 (Ex. DUT-IN-005)
What it required
IOSHA states that during 2020 and 2021 it 'required employers to demonstrate they were following' the CDC's business COVID guidelines 'as part of general duty,' that employers 'were required to submit' documentation in response to more than 6,700 complaints (against about 1,200 a year before the pandemic), that employers 'submitted proof of providing protective measures, including Plexiglass barriers, masks and gloves, portable sanitation sinks, hand sanitizer stations, floor directional signage for social distancing, staggered work shifts, daily health screenings, temperature checks, etc.,' that IOSHA 'conducted more than 120 workplace inspections in response to reports of COVID-related fatalities and hospitalizations, and when complaint responses were not satisfactory,' and that it 'issued citations for violations of workplace safety and health standards as appropriate.' Character as recorded: agency_position_statement (news release).
Retrieval noteGraded verified_secondary because the release is read in a broadcaster's reproduction ('The following is the press release about the analysis from the Indiana Department of Labor'); IDOL's own News Center (in.gov/dol/media/news-center) is script-driven and the release URL was not recoverable by fetching. The release is the Department's own account of the standard it applied to employers during the six quarters and is the direct answer to the 'voluntary' characterization: the screening, barriers, staggered shifts, remote work and PPE that employers adopted were the proof IOSHA 'required employers to submit' of compliance with the general duty. The release also states that IOSHA 'proactively began running information on its website homepage and social media encouraging Hoosier employees to report any concerns' in 2020.