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… COVID-19, the impact of the pandemic is already manifest in the renewals underway now. The specific coverage changes in property policies directly related to Coronavirus have essentially been a tightening of contamination exclusions, adding specific exclusions for communicable disease, or a significant lowering of limits for those policies that do provide some coverage. A more significant direct impact has been on the underwriting process. With underwriters and their modelers working from home, the process and flow of renewals have slowed dramatically. On-site risk control visits to provide underwriters with information they need to assess risks have been suspended.

Executive Order Makes it Easier For Essential Workers in California to Obtain Workers’ Compensation Benefits On Tuesday, May 6, 2020, Governor Newsom signed an executive order that will make it easier for essential workers who contract COVID-19 to obtain workers’ compensation benefits. This order creates a rebuttable presumption that California’s essential employees who contract COVID-19 in the course of their employment are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. This order will broaden benefits to all sectors, as long as the employee tests positive for COVID-19 by a physician. In addition to healthcare and first responders, the executive …

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National Construction Practice Safety Alert Discretion in Enforcement When Considering an Employer’s Good Faith Efforts During the COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread business closures, restrictions on travel, limitations on group size, facility visitor prohibitions, stay-at-home or shelter-in-place requirements. These actions have severely limited the availability of employees, consultants or contractors who normally provide required training, auditing, equipment inspections, testing and other essential safety and industrial hygiene services such as: Annual audiograms Annual process safety management requirements (Process Hazard Review PHA) Revalidation, Review of Operating Procedures, Refresher Training) Hazardous Waste …

National Construction Practice Safety Alert Under OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness and employers are responsible for recording cases of COVID-19 on the OSHA 300Log of Work Related Injuries and Illnesses. However, in areas where there is ongoing community transmission, employers other than those in the healthcare industry, emergency response organizations and correctional institutions may have difficulty making determinations about whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so due to exposures at work. In light of these difficulties, OSHA is exercising enforcement discretion. Objective Evidence OSHA has suspended injury and fatality reporting requirements related to …