Companies need to voluntarily look out for their ‘essential’ employees

Thanks, John Barry, for your opinion piece on essential workers (“Coronavirus ‘essential workers’ have rights too,” April 1). I would add that employers of essential workers can and should be doing more to protect these employees from the coronavirus. The designation of essential status does not exempt employers from their legal obligation to provide a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or physical harm” under the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Nor does it exempt employers from their moral obligation to protect their workers and the public.

While some industries are being gutted, too many businesses in those deemed essential, including construction, landscaping and transportation, are conducting business as usual. Shy of shutting down these industries, there are basic steps that employers can and should take to protect their workers including halting nonessential projects or portions of the business, modifying tasks to limit contact between workers, disinfection of frequently contacted surfaces and, as a last resort, personal protective equipment.

It is unrealistic to expect OSHA or Maryland’s occupational safety agency to enforce these precautions, just as it’s unrealistic to expect the police to enforce social distancing or stay-at-home orders. We are in a crisis. The number of people who will die will be determined by how we collectively respond to this crisis. Employers in essential industries, like the rest of us, have a moral obligation to ingenuously examine all of our activities, restrict the non-essential activities, and conduct essential activities in a way that minimizes the probability of transmitting the virus.

The sacrifice required of all of us is essential. Maintaining profits at pre-crisis levels is not.

Josh Julius, Baltimore