Oregon OSHA encourages use of its online form for COVID-19 workplace complaints
Published 12:00 pm Monday, July 13, 2020
SALEM — Oregon OSHA is reminding Oregonians they can report workplace hazards around coronavirus concerns through its online form.
State regulators have received hundreds of complaints from customers and workers expressing concerns about business owners not enforcing state mandates to wear face coverings while visiting public indoor spaces. Gov. Kate Brown extended her order that people must wear masks when in public indoor places, such as stores, to all of Oregon’s counties.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Oregon Occupational Safety and Health received 750 complaints related to coronavirus restrictions, more than the agency received during the first two weeks of the stay-home order in late March.
Oregon OSHA said people can still call in complaints, but the online form is an easy option. Although the page says the form is for employees, a drop down menu in the actual form has a “concerned citizen” section.
“We will continue to take phone calls about workplace hazards concerning the novel coronavirus,” said Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA. “However, our online system is just as fast — if not faster — at absorbing complaints and allowing us to efficiently respond to them.”
More than 90% of the July 4 weekend complaints involved concerns about employees, customers or both groups not wearing face masks. Most of the complaints involved retailers and in particular large grocery stores.
Enforcement of Brown’s facial covering order primarily falls to businesses, which could face fines for their part in failing to comply.
Brown’s July 1 order exempts anyone with a medical condition “that makes it hard to breathe” or with “a disability that prevents the individual from wearing a mask” during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Medical experts say only a rare medical condition would prevent mask wearing, such as extreme respiratory ailments or muscular or motor-control disorders that prevent them from removing a mask in an emergency.