State departments, agencies must develop workplace coronavirus safety plans by Nov. 6

Carol Thompson
Lansing State Journal

LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer directed state department heads to develop coronavirus safety procedures for state employees' eventual return to work at state office buildings.

The policies and procedures must address personal protective equipment, social distancing, cleaning, employee screening, procedures for returning employees to work areas and how the rules will be communicated to employees.

They also must comply with guidance, regulations and orders from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Michigan Health and Human Services and the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to a Thursday press release from the governor's office.

State employees who are working remotely will continue to, Whitmer spokesperson Tiffany Brown said. There is no return-to-work date identified, and the earliest state employees could be called back to office settings is Jan. 2.

More information will be provided in November, Brown said.

Whitmer directed department leaders to write workplace coronavirus safety policies by Nov. 6. She requested the departments of State and Attorney General write plans for their employees, too.

The Office of State Employer will review them by Nov. 13 and either approve them or return them to the departments with feedback for revisions.

Polices will be updated and posted online.

More:Pandemic offers glimpse of downtown Lansing without state workers. It's not a great picture.

"This executive directive will ensure that every state workplace implements strict safety measures to protect our state employees, their families, and Michiganders everywhere from this virus," Whitmer said in a press release.

The state government has almost 50,000 employees, including more than 14,000 in the Lansing area. It is the region's top employer. Many state employees, particularly office workers, have been working remotely since the pandemic hit Michigan in March.

More:No crowding the elevator and other plans for state workers' eventual return to the office

The Department of Technology, Management and Budget has been working with departments on coronavirus safety procedures for months.

"All state departments have been working carefully to have safety protocols in place," Brown said. "This executive directive ensures that those plans are up to date to best protect State of Michigan employees."

In July, Office of State Employer Director Liza Estlund Olson told lawmakers on the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic state departments were working on return-to-work plans.

There will be new rules when workers return. Drinking fountains likely will be off-limits, elevators will have capacity limits, masks will be required and shifts might be staggered to limit the number of people in buildings at a time, DTMB spokesperson Caleb Buhs told the State Journal this summer.

This story will be updated.

Contact Carol Thompson at ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.