MONTPELIER — The full requirements of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development’s new Work Safe directive are as follows:
Mandatory health & safety requirements for all business operations
All businesses must follow Vermont Department of Health and CDC guidelines:
• Employees shall not re- port to, or be allowed to re- main at, work or job site if sick or symptomatic (fever, cough and/or shortness of breath).
• All employees must ob- serve strict social distancing of 6 feet while on the job.
• Employees must wear non-medical cloth face coverings (bandanna, scarf, or non-medical mask, etc.) over their nose and mouth when in the presence of others. In the case of retail cashiers, a translucent shield or “sneeze guard” is acceptable in lieu of a mask.
• Employees must have easy and frequent access to soap and water or hand sanitizer during duration of work, and handwashing or hand sanitization should be required before entering, and leaving, job sites. All common spaces and equipment, including bathrooms, frequently touched surfaces and doors, tools and equipment, and vehicles must be cleaned and disinfected at the beginning, middle and end of each shift and prior to transfer from one person to another.
• No more than two people shall occupy one vehicle when conducting work.
Business customer and general public mask use
Customers, and the public in general, are encouraged to wear cloth face coverings any time they are interacting with others from outside their household.
Phased Restart
Business operations deemed “essential” may continue to operate under pre-existing guidance with the addition of the mandatory health and safety requirements for all business operations above.
To safely reopen certain operations impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and not de ned as essential, Gov. Scott has directed the Agency of Commerce — in consultation with the Department of Health and the Department of Public Safety — to authorize, subject to mandatory health and safety requirements listed above and additional guidance below, the following:
Phase 1: Effective April 20.
1.1 Outdoor Businesses & Construction Operations
• Those who exclusively or largely work outdoors (such as civil engineering, site work, exterior construction, skilled trades, public works, energy and utility work, mining, forestry, environmental monitor- ing, landscaping, painting, tree work, parks maintenance, delivery work, etc.) may resume operations with a maximum of two total workers per location/job.
• Interior construction may occur in unoccupied structures, adhering to social distancing standards, with no more than two workers maintaining social distance between them whenever possible.
• Supporting services that
were not previously deemed essential may resume operations with the minimum number of employees necessary to support curbside pick-up and delivery services; adherence to the mandatory health and safety requirements and compliance with 1.2 below required.
1.2 Retail Operations (clarifying existing guidance)
• Retailers, including those that operate in an outdoor set- ting, may conduct limited operations such as curbside pick-up, delivery services, and ware- house or distribution operations in support of curbside, or delivery.
• All orders must occur over
the phone or online; no in-store transactions are allowed at this time.
• Only the minimum number of employees necessary to sup- port curbside pick-up and delivery services are allowed at any one store, site, or location.
1.3 Low or no contact professional services
• Services operating with a single worker (such as appraisers, real estate agents, municipal clerks, attorneys, property managers, pet care operators, and others) may operate if they can comply with the mandatory health and safety requirements listed above, with no more than two persons (service provider and client) present at one time.
If your business or circumstance does not meet these criteria, additional guidance will be forthcoming.
