Reopening Your Business In Kentucky – What Do You Need to Do?

On Monday, Kentucky began the phased reopening of health care services. 

The Healthy at Work Plan set out public health benchmarks for reopening Kentucky’s economy.

The 10 basic rules to reopening a business under the Healthy at Work plan are:

• Continue to telework where possible
• Phased return to work
• Onsite temperature and health checks
• Universal masks and other necessary protective equipment
• Close common areas
• Enforce social distancing
• Limit face-to-face meetings
• Sanitizer/hand wash stations
• Special accommodations
• Testing plan

It is very important as a business owner to have your plans in place before reopening. Be sure you have everything in writing and you have your employees sign off that they understand the new guidelines. 

From an insurance perspective, there are a few things to keep in mind. 

1. The guidelines have to apply to everyone equally. Be careful about what you require employees to divulge about life outside of work. For example, if you know of an employee that travels out of state, will you require them to quarantine for 14 days? If so, will you pay them? Do you even have the right to know what they do on their off-time?
2. What steps are you taking to provide a safe working environment? For example, in addition to providing masks, do you need to provide plexiglass screens? If you believe one of your employees has been exposed while in the course of working for you, what is your plan to have them tested and to mitigate the risk of them getting sick and spreading the virus to others in your place of business?
3. How do you enforce social distancing? 
4. What is your plan to purchase masks, hand sanitizer, thermometer, and other necessities? Start searching for these items and getting them in place now.
5. If you have common areas, such as a break room, smoking area, etc., how are you communicating that these areas are off limits in the new guidelines? 

Research other businesses in your industry online and see if you can find a guide that will be helpful to you in organizing your plans and procedures. This is a changing environment, so be sure you amend your processes if needed. 

More details and info at the link below.

https://govstatus.egov.com/ky-healthy-at-work