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OSHA Issues COVID-19 Technical Guidance for Restaurants

    Client Alerts
  • May 07, 2020

Last Friday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the latest in a series of technical guidance documents for restaurants. The guidance provides advice for minimizing the potential for COVID-19 infections spreading at work. While not a mandatory regulation, the guidance lists best practices for affected employers.

For now, the guidance only addresses takeout and curbside pickup business. Among other things, OSHA recommends that restaurant employees wear masks and not directly hand food to customers "when possible." If restaurants reserve parking spots near the front for curbside pickup, employees can avoid direct customer contact. The restaurants should enforce social distancing, including markings of safe distances between employees. OSHA says that these policies should be in writing and posted for use by workers and customers.

OSHA will likely update the guidance for interior dining as restaurants begin to reopen nationwide. The technical guidance can be found here.