Avian Influenza Information for Employers

worker with cow being given an injection.

Employers are responsible for ensuring a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. This includes protecting workers from the hazards posed by occupational exposure to avian flu (also called bird flu). The following is an overview of some of the California Code of Regulations, Title 8, sections applicable to avian influenza prevention and exposure that employers must comply with.

Required Programs

Employers must develop, implement, and maintain the following effective written program requirements:

  • Section 5199.1: Ensure that:
    • The workplace Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) includes effective procedures for preventing worker exposure to zoonotic aerosol transmissible diseases (ATDs). Zoonotic ATDS are animal diseases that can infect persons through splashes, or through tiny invisible particles and droplets that float in the air.
    • Additional worker exposure control measures, personal protective equipment, training, and detailed written safety procedures are required when the workplace is subject to quarantine measures or other infection control orders even if there are no infected animals.
    • Where there are infected animals or their wastes, additional and more stringent and protective measures for workers are required including mandatory respiratory protection.
  • Section 3203: Establish, implement, and maintain an effective, written workplace injury and illness prevention program (IIPP)
  • Section 5144: Develop and implement an effective respiratory protection program with worksite-specific procedures and elements for required respirator use

Protective Equipment and Control Measures

  • Sections 3380 through 3387 and Section 5199.1: Provide workers with personal protective equipment that is suitable for the risks (chemical, biological, physical, or safety hazards) they are exposed to:
    • Head
    • Eye and face
    • Nose and mouth
    • Body
    • Hand
    • Foot
  • Section 5141 and Section 5199.1: Control harmful workers' exposures to substances capable of producing adverse health effects
  • Section 5144 and Section 5199.1: Provide and ensure use of respiratory protection when required.
  • Section 5192: Ensure adequate training and exposure control measures for workers required to handle and dispose of dead livestock
  • Sections 5221 through 5223 and Section 5199.1: Provide effective training and exposure control measures for workers involved in fumigation

Sanitation

  • Sections 3360 through 3368 and Section 5199.1: Where required, provide workers with suitable:
    • Water supplies for drinking
    • Hand washing
    • Toilets
    • Change rooms
    • Showers
    • Areas for consumption of food and beverages

Reporting and Recording Requirements

  • Section 342: Report work-connected worker fatalities and serious injuries. Employers have a legal responsibility to immediately report to Cal/OSHA any serious injury or illness, or death (including any due to H5N1 avian influenza) of an employee occurring in a place of employment or in connection with any employment. Employers also have responsibilities to control workers' exposure to hazardous materials and zoonotic aerosol transmissible diseases.
    • Zoonotic diseases are those that are able to be transmitted from animals to humans.
  • Section 14300: Ensure all recordable workplace injuries are documented according to Form 300, 300A, and 301 requirements.

What Should Employers Do to Prevent Avian Influenza Infection Among Workers?

Employers must establish, implement, and maintain effective written procedures for preventing worker exposure to zoonotic aerosol transmissible diseases in accordance with Section 3203. These procedures must include:

  • Sanitation.
  • Investigation of occupational injuries and illnesses.
  • Training that covers the employer’s exposure control procedures and is appropriate in content and vocabulary for the education level, literacy, and language of their employees.
  • Where applicable - biosecurity and the use of personal protective equipment.

Use additional protections if your worksite is under a quarantine order, movement restriction, or other infection control order even if there are no infected animals. These additional protections include:

  • Establishing restricted areas where only trained and supervised employees with the correct PPE can enter
  • Requiring respirators whenever employees are indoors within the restricted area

If there are infected animals, more stringent and protective requirements apply. These include:

  • A detailed written work plan including a risk assessment of biological, chemical, physical, and safety hazards, and a description of control measures
  • Requiring respirators whenever employees are in the restricted area

Adopt written procedures, controls, and work practices that reduce workers' exposure, which may include:

  • Use of PPE
    • Whole body coveralls
    • Aprons
    • Gloves
    • Head coverings
    • Shoe covers
    • Eye protection
    • Respiratory protection (use in compliance with section 5144)
  • Safe work practices, such as:
    • Modifying tasks to minimize production of aerosols (splashes, droplets, or small particles of respiratory secretions or other body fluids).
    • Proper disposal of dead animals.
  • Engineering controls, such as:
    • Wetting down areas when cleaning animal areas (e.g., cleaning bird droppings or animal pens) to prevent dried material from getting into the air.
    • Installation of screens on enclosed animal areas to prevent infected wildlife and rodents from entering.
    • Appropriate ventilation equipment to remove pathogens from employee work areas.
    • Enclosed ventilated cabinets.
    • Isolating healthy animals from infected animals.
  • Sanitation and Biosecurity
    • Frequently washing hands and not touching the eyes, nose, or mouth.
    • Confining animals to certain areas.
    • Using boot washes and shoe coverings when entering and exiting animal areas.
    • Providing change rooms and requiring the use of showers to enter and exit animal areas.
    • Controlling traffic into, out of, and within the facility.
  • Employer’s Medical Services Program
    • The employer must consult with a physician or other health care professional (PLHCP) to provide medical services to employees.
    • Provide medical evaluations, vaccinations, medications, health checks as recommended by CDC, CDPH, local health department, or the employer’s PLHCP.
  • Communication and Training
    • Employee training on the employer’s zoonotic ATD plan.
    • How to recognize signs of animal disease, such as an increase in the number of animal deaths and changes in their eating patterns or behaviors. In dairy cows, symptoms include: reduced milk production; thicker, concentrated, colostrum‐like milk; a decrease in feed consumption; abnormal tacky or loose feces; lethargy; dehydration; and fever.
    • The safety equipment that the employer provides to protect employees from zoonotic ATD hazards, including control measures, PPE, and respiratory protective equipment.
    • Work practices that employees can use to protect themselves, such as frequent handwashing, decontamination procedures, and other sanitation procedures.
    • The employer’s occupational injury and illness investigation procedures.
    • Employer’s biosecurity procedures, if applicable.
  • Illness investigations consistent with the employer’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program.

For more requirements for protecting workers from avian influenza and other zoonotic aerosol transmissible diseases, please see the full regulation, section 5199.1.

What should employers do if a worker reports Avian flu symptoms?

  • Immediately contact your PLHCP who administers your medical services program and your local public health department’s communicable disease controller or public health nurse to request help in getting the worker tested for avian flu. Testing is needed to diagnose avian influenza. The local health department (LHD) will work with you, your PLHCP, and/or the employee to arrange for testing at an appropriate location. Testing can only occur at a public health laboratory (not a commercial lab). The employer’s PLHCP must provide appropriate care and treatment and referrals as needed. The LHD can also help provide information about accessing appropriate care and treatment. Contact information for the LHD can be found at CDPH LHD Communicable Disease Contact List.
  • After connecting the LHD to the PLHCP, send the worker to a workers' compensation healthcare provider or occupational medicine clinic whose staff is knowledgeable about avian influenza. Physicians must submit a "Doctor's First Report of Occupational Injury or Illness" (Form 5021) for each employee evaluated for occupational illness.
  • Report all hospitalized cases and deaths to Cal/OSHA.
  • Complete the "Employer's Report of Occupational Injury or Illness" (Form 5020) for each suspected occupational avian influenza illness.
  • Record all cases on the Cal/OSHA Log 300.

Workers’ Compensation

Employers must provide workers’ compensation benefits for workers that get bird flu on the job.
  • Workers are unlikely to get bird flu from another person.
  • Employees exposed to animals on the job can likely prove that their illness is from work, unless they were exposed to bird flu away from work.
Workers Compensation benefits:
  • Medical Care – employer pays all reasonable and necessary treatment.
  • Temporary Disability Benefits – employer pays portion of lost wages if employees misses three or more days of work because of the illness.
  • Permanent Disability Benefits – if illness causes permanent impairment.
For more information:

Paid Sick Leave

Employers are required to provide employees paid sick leave.
Employers must allow employees to use up to 40 hours or five days, whichever is more, of earned paid sick leave in a 12-month period.

To qualify for paid sick leave, employees must have:
  • Worked at least 30 days for the same employer in a year.
An employee is entitled to use what they have earned on the 90th day of employment, although an employer can lend paid sick leave in advance of accrual.

More information: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/California-Paid-Sick-Leave.html (available in English and Spanish)

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November 2024