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Active Employee Screening as an Infection Control Measure

Active screening of workers can be conducted as a requirement for entering the jobsite, before the start of each shift, and continued throughout the day, as necessary. The Hawaii construction industry provides a sample jobsite policy for employee screening of COVID-19 and the use of the COVID-19 Health Assessment Questionnaire. This policy is summarized below:

  • A supervisor or company-designated individual should be authorized to enforce COVID-19 policies.
  • Active screening involves the employer inquiring about an employee’s medical status. The EEOC recognizes this screening as permissible amid the pandemic. While the ADA restricts inquiries into an employee’s medical status, employers may ask an employee about signs and symptoms as they relate to potential coronavirus exposure. 
  • Active screening will allow workers onto a project site only if they have “No Identifiable Risk.” This may be achieved by administering a brief questionnaire to all individuals outside a jobsite entrance. 
  • Individuals waiting on and completing the active screening process must maintain at least 6 feet distance from other people.
  • The assigned screener shall review the questions on the COVID-19 Health Assessment Questionnaire with the individual while maintaining at least 6 feet of distance.
  • If a person answers “yes” to any of the questions, ask them to leave the workplace or jobsite immediately, and seek medical evaluation.
  • If “no” is answered to all of the questions, the person may proceed onto the jobsite.
  • If a person refuses to be screened, the person may not proceed onto the jobsite.

Alternative Forms of Active Screening

  • Include signage at the jobsite entrance requiring all those seeking access to the jobsite to affirm “no” to all questions before access is granted.

  • An employer may choose to take the temperatures of those seeking access to a jobsite. If you choose to monitor temperatures, comply with manufacturer guidelines as well as best practices as set forth by the CDC and EEOC.

  • NAPA releases employee temperature scanning protocol