The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Maryland
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. Title 5 (MOSH Act); MOSH's outreach and consultation functions
- Effective
- 2020-04
- End
- standing publication (still posted on the MOSH Guidance page, 'Archives,' September 2026) (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Face-covering requirementWorkplace rules
- Addressees
- employers and employees generally; health care workers
- Character
- recommendation only
- Collection
- Standing duties: Maryland DUT-MD
Operative words
Cloth or Paper Face Mask... Testing & Approval: Not tested or approved, but currently recommended by the CDC... Intended Use & Purpose: To prevent transmission of the virus between people in close proximity... Who Should Wear? Everyone in public settings where social distancing is infeasible e.g. grocery store or pharmacy
Penalty
None in the fact sheet; the incorporating orders carried Pub. Safety §§ 14-114 and 14-3A-08
What it required
Recommended, as the State OSHA plan's own April 2020 guidance, cloth or paper face masks for 'everyone in public settings where social distancing is infeasible,' surgical masks for health care workers when N95 respirators are unavailable and for suspected or confirmed patients, and NIOSH-approved respirators for health care workers caring for COVID-19 cases; it is a recommendation, and it became compulsory for Maryland workplaces through the Governor's face-covering orders of April 15 and July 29, 2020 (Exs. MD-008, MD-014) and, for health care, through the ETS adopted August 27, 2021 (Ex. DUT-MD-016).
Retrieval noteOne-page table comparing cloth or paper face masks, surgical face masks and filtering facepiece respirators (fit testing, filtration, leakage, use limitations); footnote: 'OSHA has issued temporary enforcement guidance regarding filtering facepiece respirators and OSHA requirements,' citing the March 14, 2020 and April 8, 2020 memoranda. Recorded as recommendation_only because the document recommends; its legal force in Maryland workplaces came from Order 20-04-15-01 ('all Retail Establishments shall require staff to wear, and those staff shall wear, Face Coverings while working in areas open to the general public and areas in which interactions with other staff are likely') (Ex. MD-008 para. II.a.iv) and the successor orders to May 15, 2021, and from Lab. & Empl. § 5-104.