OSHA/CDC Issue Interim Guidance to Protect Seafood Processing Industry Workers

June 25, 2020

U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA and CDC Issue Interim Guidance
To Protect Seafood Processing Industry Workers

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have released joint coronavirus-related interim guidance for employers and workers performing seafood processing operations in onshore facilities and aboard vessels offshore. The guidance includes recommended actions employers can take to reduce the risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

“It is imperative that workers in the seafood processing industry are protected from coronavirus exposure in their workplace,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Loren Sweatt. “OSHA collaborated with the CDC and FDA to provide this guidance, which outlines steps employers can take to provide a safe and healthful workplace for workers in this vital industry.”

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Revised PPP Loan Forgiveness Applications

The U.S. Small Business Administration, in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, posted a revised, borrower-friendly Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness application implementing the PPP Flexibility Act of 2020, signed into law by President Trump on June 5, 2020. In addition to revising the full forgiveness application, SBA also published a new EZ version of the forgiveness application that applies to borrowers that:

  • Are self-employed and have no employees; OR
  • Did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%, and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees; OR
  • Experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19, and did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%.

The EZ application requires fewer calculations and less documentation for eligible borrowers. Details regarding the applicability of these provisions are available in the instructions to the new EZ application form.

Both applications give borrowers the option of using the original 8-week covered period (if their loan was made before June 5, 2020) or an extended 24-week covered period. These changes will result in a more efficient process and make it easier for businesses to realize full forgiveness of their PPP loan.

Click HERE to view the EZ Forgiveness Application.
Click HERE to view the Full Forgiveness Application.

June Ecosystem Services Photo Contest Winner

 

Nyle Taylor: This weekend’s extreme low tides exposed ground that does not often go dry. Prior to planting geoduck, this bed was bare sand. The addition of the mesh tubes provided structure for the kelp forest that is to the north of the farm to expand covering nearly a half-acre of our mesh tubes. Kelp provides many ecosystem services, from carbon sequestration to habitat for a variety of native Puget Sound species.

May Ecosystem Services Photo Contest Winner

Jeremy Esposito:  Although stock checks of scallop broodstock lead to reports of mortality, we tend to get a kick out of the new residents. Pictured here is a purple-hinged rock scallop repurposed. Looks to me like a sculpin (?), nesting below Manchester’s NMFS Sablefish pens.