Federal agencies, state departments, and large companies are all implementing vaccine mandates. The approach has become the new standard workplace safety procedure as we continue to navigate COVID-19. President Biden has ordered OSHA to create a rule mandating businesses with more than 100 employees require workers to get vaccinated or be tested weekly. Employers are actually anxiously awaiting OSHA’s ETS. 

Developing the vaccine policy is only the first hurdle, once in effect tracking employee compliance will place a heavy burden on human resource officers. They have to maintain a secure record of all employees who are fully vaccinated as well as unvaccinated employees’ weekly test results.

See how our solution can help you comply with OSHA’s ETS!

Who is implementing the mandate? 

At least 19 states have established testing and vaccine mandates. Federal employees are required to get vaccinated or submit to masking, biweekly testing, and social distancing. Soon, companies with over 100 employees will all be required to have a vaccine tracking or testing protocol. Several leading companies – Ford, Google, and Citigroup have already announced a vaccine mandate. According to a recent survey, more than half of employers plan to implement vaccine mandates.

You’ve implemented the mandate, now what?

Your employee vaccination policy has been announced. Great! Now you need to find a way to securely manage employee health information at scale. In-house solutions place a tremendous burden on IT and HR teams. Any company with more than 100 employees will need to automate their system to keep track of who has been vaccinated and completed a COVID-19 test.

Beware of these mistakes

Storing records on Excel, Google Sheets, or other similar databases can lead to security and compliance issues

There was recently a security breach in Microsoft Power Apps that were exposed online, revealing the contact tracing information and COVID-19 vaccination status of users. Another data breach occurred at California State University, Chico revealing students who requested religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Using siloed solutions for vaccine tracking and test management

HR teams are overwhelmed by their responsibilities to track employee health status and manage communication workflows in the event of positive cases and exposure. Managing these workflows with separate solutions places a significant burden on teams who go back and forth between calendars, Excel, and other platforms. With our one platform, administrators can manage their COVID-19 mandates, communications, and workflows in one place. 

Cannot store vaccine information with other employee records

According to the EEOC, employee vaccination status is considered “confidential medical information” and has to be kept separate from personnel files, both print and digital.

Looking for additional tips? Gartner provides great resources for employers to review before establishing a vaccine mandate. 

Automating your COVID-19 Workflow

Our Command Center provides digital vaccine tracking and testing tools to help administrators comply with the recent guidelines. But that’s not all. What do you do if an employee reports a positive test result or symptoms? ReturnSafe’s case management, screening, and contact tracing tools help HR manage workflows to prevent outbreaks 

Vaccination Tracking & Verification

The Vaccine Tracking tab helps you track employee vaccination status, gauge employee sentiment towards vaccination, and verify employee vaccination records. 

Test Tracking

In the Test Results tab, an organization’s testing provider can upload bulk imports of employee test results into the Command Center for administrators to review. 

Case Management

In the Case Manager tab, administrators can create and update positive, preemptive, and cleared cases. Administrators can also override employee screening recommendations and have access to workflow management tools to ensure cases receive the appropriate follow-up communications.

If you are on a tight deadline, book a demo with our team to get up and running as soon as possible.

OSHA Guidance

OSHA recently updated their recommendations to help employers protect workers. In their guidance, they encourage employers to develop vaccine incentives and/or policies to require employees get vaccinated or be tested regularly.

Like the CDC, they encourage fully vaccinated individuals to wear a mask in areas of substantial or high transmission and “regardless of level of transmission, particularly if individuals are at risk or have someone in their household who is at increased risk of severe disease or not fully vaccinated.” If a vaccinated individual is exposed to someone with COVID-19 they recommend getting tested within 3-5 days and wearing a mask for 14 days or until the individual gets a negative test result.

CDC Guidance

With the rise of the Delta variant across the country the CDC now recommends that fully vaccinated individuals wear a mask indoors in public if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission. This reverses their earlier guidance permitting those fully vaccinated to bypass wearing masks.

Individuals may also want to wear a mask regardless of local transmission levels if they or someone in their household have:

• a weakened immune system
• an underlying medical condition
• a higher risk of severe COVID-19 because of their age
• not yet been vaccinated

ReturnSafe’s Guidance

We agree with OSHA and the CDC’s new guidance especially with the rise in cases and fatalities due to the Delta variant.

Vaccine tracking and testing are the new standard to ensure safety at the workplace. Federal agencies, state governments, and large businesses have already started implementing these requirements for their employees.

Although those who are unvaccinated are at higher risk, breakthrough cases are still possible. Fully vaccinated individuals should continue to wear masks and screen for COVID-19 symptoms and stay home and get tested if they are symptomatic. If they test positive they should follow isolation procedure and stay home for 10 days per the CDC guidelines.

Learn more about the upcoming OSHA vaccine mandate by visiting Vaccine Management.