March 2020 Article Archives

Whether it is a first conversation or a project currently in progress, setting some new procedures for you and your team for during and after a local, state or federal health concern can only help your business reputation today and in the future. NARI has complied this list as a helpful resource from other NARI professionals, CDC and other government orders.

These are suggestions, helpful hints and practices being used by fellow members. CDC and government orders prevail. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive list.

Check out the links below for helpful tips and information regarding COVID-19.

Legally Speaking by Bob Dunlevey and Nadia A. Lampton, Taft Law

The outbreak and threatened spread of the Coronavirus pandemic has led to a complete disruption of the everyday routines for nearly everyone around the globe. Not surprisingly, federal, state, and local governments have intervened to curb the continued spread of the virus and to address other health, business, and financial concerns of their respective communities. At the federal level, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was passed and signed into law, which provides for employer-paid sick and family leave to address the impact of the COVID-19 national health emergency. While this new law, which becomes effective April 2, 2020, provides added financial security to many employees across the country, it also puts additional strain on employers, many of whom are uncertain of their financial ability to furnish these extra benefits.

Legally Speaking by Bob Dunlevey and Nadia A. Lampton, Taft Law

Over the last two weeks, Ohio has been the subject of numerous statewide guidelines, mandates, executive orders and other agency bulletins and orders impacting nearly every facet of daily living. One such advisory bulletin – Bulletin 2020-03: Health Insurance Coverage Flexibility for Ohio Employees (the “Bulletin”) – was issued on Friday, March 20, 2020, by the Department of Insurance, which mandates relaxed insurance requirements during the present state of emergency that provide additional and more flexible insurance options for employees displaced due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

CareWorks Comp is committed to keeping our partners and their members up-to-date on necessary, temporary changes in Ohio workers’ compensation and guidelines for work-at-home employees as we all navigate the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) is initiating temporary policy changes that will allow flexibility in the provision of care to injured workers. These changes will be effective until the state of emergency related to COVID-19 is lifted within the state where the injured resides.

To minimize the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and continue business operations, our BWC staff is now teleworking. While we may be operating from a different physical location, we do not currently anticipate major issues with continuing to provide our employers, injured workers, and the many others we serve, with service. Phone numbers and email addresses for our customer service representatives remain the same.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates as necessary. We know you may have questions that we are just not able to immediately answer. We promise to keep you updated and share information as we have it. In the meantime, thank you for your patience as we all work through COVID-19 together.

All remodeling professionals should incorporate COVID-19 transmission and prevention into all job hazard analyses (JHAs) and pre-task safety planning for all aspects of the work. This tool is provided solely as a guideline for contractors and is not to be relied upon to prevent the spread or transmission of COVID-19 or prevent a safety violation from being issued by a jurisdictional authority. This is not legal advice. Contractors should continually evaluate the specific hazards at their job sites along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations to determine the most appropriate job hazard analysis for the project/task as it relates to the spread and/or transmission of COVID-19.

This is a correspondence from Richard Osgood, Miami County Chief Building Official. Please also note, this is a very fluid situation and we will do our best to update you in real time.

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We are fully digital, so processing of applications, construction documents, inspections, etc., will continue as normal. There are some limitations on entering occupied residential structures and unseparated medical construction, but we expanded our virtual inspection capability to best minimize disruption in the construction industry. 

This is a correspondence from Al Kuzma, Greene County Chief Building Official. Please also note, this is a very fluid situation and we will do our best to update you in real time.

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We are currently working on new protocols for inspections via FaceTime.

None have been posted yet. It is a work in progress during a fluid situation.

My team has had several contacts already and is conducting limited operations from home.

Please have any contractor contact me via e-mail for requests [email protected] 

Third party reviews/exams are not acceptable at this time because of exposure concerns. Some of my people may already have had potential exposure.