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GOVERNOR'S VACCINE MANDATE

AUGUST 27, 2021


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Dear AGC members:
The Governor has amended the Vaccine Mandate and has also published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document.
The Vaccine Mandate Amendment is more in-depth than the original and the FAQs are more clarifying for construction.
The vaccine mandate applies to any person engaged to work as an on-site contractor for a state agency, an education facility or a healthcare facility. This includes contractors and specialty contractors.

Included:
State agencies: all contractors working on-site at executive cabinet agencies of the State of Washington if the work is required to be performed in-person and on-site, regardless of frequency, whether other workers are present, or any contingent nature of that requirement, including indoor or outdoor worksites.

Medical facilities: work performed at a “healthcare setting” where patients receiving care are present. “Healthcare setting” is defined as any public or private setting that is primarily used for the delivery of in-person health care services to people. “Healthcare setting” includes portions of a multi-use facility, but only the areas that are primarily used for the delivery of health care, such as a pharmacy within a grocery store.

Educational setting: In places where students or people receiving services are present.

Not included:
Workers who are present at a site for only a short period of time and have a fleeting physical presence with others. Examples include contractors delivering supplies by truck to a construction site where they remain physically distanced from others on the site, refuse pickup or a driver for a contracted shipping and delivery service briefly entering a site to pick up parcels for shipping.

Recipients of funds distributed by an executive cabinet state agency, but where work is performed at a different physical location. Examples include vendors employed by local government who receive state funding, or subrecipients of the state operating independent offices.

Work performed at a healthcare setting removed from patient care access. Examples include an entire closed wing with no medical services provided at the time of construction.

Work performed at a school or institution of higher education in a location removed from student instruction or services.

The proclamation gives state agencies, education-facility operators and healthcare facility operators the ability to require the contractor to assume responsibility for vaccine verification and accommodation requirements. Most likely, all owners will pass this responsibility down to you as contractors, so you will need to be prepared to manage this.
To verify vaccination status, contractors must obtain a copy of, or visually observe proof of, full vaccination against COVID-19.
Proof includes

  • CDC COVID-19 vaccination record card or photo of the card;
  • Documentation of vaccination from a healthcare provider or electronic health record;
  • State immunization information-system record; or
  • For an individual who was vaccinated outside of the United States, a reasonable equivalent of any of the above.
Contractors must then submit a signed declaration to the owner stating they meet this requirement and sign additional declarations upon request. Additionally, the contractor must cooperate with any investigation or inquiry into their compliance, including by providing information and records upon request, except any information or records that the employer is prohibited by law from disclosing. We are working to provide guidance on what a required declaration will look like.
Medical and Religious exemptions are also covered in the new documents.
This remains a very fluid situation, and we will continue passing-on information and representing our members' best interests.

Warmest regards,

  David

David D'Hondt

Executive Vice President
AGC of Washington




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