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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2020
Outbreak: Company has had fi ve outbreaks across four locations
Continued from Page A3
members that tracking how
a workplace outbreak origi-
nated and spread can be dif-
fi cult. The agency organized
the town hall after U.S. Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici, an Ore-
gon Democrat, expressed
concerns that the commu-
nity lacked information
about the outbreak.
“Outbreaks like this are
complicated,” Allen said.
“They can involve things
like social events, people
who have contact with other
members of their household
as well as employment. So,
all of these things can work
together to cause the number
of cases to build up. It’s not
so simple to point to just a
particular event or a partic-
ular place and say that was
the cause of the outbreak.”
Oregon OSHA’s
response
Brandie Hogg, director
of team member services
at Pacifi c Seafood, said the
company has implemented
stringent safety measures at
their facilities since the start
of the pandemic and has
asked employees to adhere
to similar safety measures at
home and at off-site housing.
Additionally, she said the
company ensured that no
more than two workers were
assigned to any given room
at off-site hotels. She said
the company also took steps
to ensure there was addi-
tional spacing and manda-
tory mask wearing in private
transportation that Pacifi c
Seafood provided to bring
employees to work.
Since the outbreak,
Pacifi c Seafood has worked
with the Oregon Health
Authority to have staff
on-site at the hotel to ensure
that quarantine require-
ments are followed and help
deliver food and supplies to
workers.
“We really care about
our team members and this
community that we’ve been
a part of since 1983,” Hogg
said. “We have always ral-
lied around our team in
tough times. … During this
pandemic, we continue that
promise to do everything
we can to support our team
and the community, keeping
each other safe.”
But Oregon’s Occupa-
tional Safety and Health
division , which is tasked
with enforcing the state’s
workplace safety and health
rules, has never conducted a
formal enforceable inspec-
tion at Pacifi c Seafood’s
facilities to ensure that pan-
demic-related safety mea-
sures are being followed as
reported. At least 317 cases
have been linked to the com-
pany from fi ve outbreaks
across four locations.
ferent from employer-pro-
vided and operated labor
housing. The only jurisdic-
tion we would have over the
hotel would be in regard to
the employees of the hotel.”
Oregon is in the process
of adopting new temporary
rules to beef up workplace
standards in an attempt to
stop the spread of the virus.
And the state already initi-
ated an emphasis program for
the food processing indus-
try after a spate of outbreaks
early in the pandemic, allow-
ing more resources to be put
toward proactively inspecting
food processors. OSHA has
also responded to workplace
inspection requests from the
Oregon Health Authority.
only has the resources to
inspect 2.5% of workplaces.
“The threshold that it
would take to get an inspec-
tion initiated in normal times
would probably be lower,”
Wood said. “But as we make
those decisions, we have to
consider the rest of the work-
load and the complaint vol-
ume, including sites where
we’ve had multiple com-
plaints from workers about
exposures and we haven’t
necessarily inspected yet.”
Outbreaks at
Pacifi c Seafood
That state’s response
doesn’t change, even if a
company has been linked to
multiple outbreaks.
anonymous
complaint
claimed that Pacifi c Sea-
food workers were being
required to return to work
in May after testing posi-
tive for COVID-19. OSHA
couldn’t reach the com-
plainant and resolved the
complaint after being told
by Pacifi c Seafood and local
health authorities that no
employees were being told
to come to work after test-
ing positive.
Pacifi c Seafood’s safety
plan requires workers to
quarantine after testing pos-
itive for COVID-19, but
allows for close contacts
who test negative and aren’t
exhibiting symptoms to
return to work immediately.
‘OUTBREAKS LIKE THIS ARE COMPLICATED. THEY CAN INVOLVE
THINGS LIKE SOCIAL EVENTS, PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTACT WITH
OTHER MEMBERS OF THEIR HOUSEHOLD AS WELL AS EMPLOYMENT.
SO, ALL OF THESE THINGS CAN WORK TOGETHER TO CAUSE THE
NUMBER OF CASES TO BUILD UP. IT’S NOT SO SIMPLE TO POINT
TO JUST A PARTICULAR EVENT OR A PARTICULAR PLACE
AND SAY THAT WAS THE CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK.’
Patrick Allen | the director of the Oregon Health Authority
OSHA also doesn’t have
the jurisdiction to inspect
the off-site housing facilities
where Pacifi c Seafood work-
ers stay. The agency adopted
a temporary rule in June at
the urging of worker advo-
cates meant to mitigate the
spread of COVID-19 within
employer-provided housing.
It has since inspected just
three labor housing facili-
ties, issuing one citation. But
the labor housing must be
employer-owned and oper-
ated to fall under OSHA’s
jurisdiction.
“This is a lodging facil-
ity that the employer has
arranged to house people at,”
said OSHA Administrator
Michael Wood. “That’s dif-
But the vast majority of
inspections conducted by
OSHA this year have been
in response to the more
than 11,000 complaints
the agency has received
regarding concerns related
to workplace conditions
amid the pandemic. Wood
acknowledged there are con-
cerns that agricultural and
food processing workers, in
particular, may not fi le com-
plaints because of fear that
they could lose their pay-
check or face retaliation.
The majority of work-
places will never be
inspected, even if there are
complaints. Even in a typical
year when it isn’t inundated
with complaints, the agency
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Wood said that OSHA
does not initiate an inspec-
tion solely in response to
an outbreak because the
state doesn’t want to deter
employers from testing
workers. The state has not
required mandatory coro-
navirus testing for food pro-
cessing workers, something
workers advocates and Clat-
sop County have sought.
OSHA has received
seven complaints since
March relating to Pacifi c
Seafood facilities, four of
which had to do with pro-
cessing operations.
The only complaint
related to the Warrenton
facility was resolved with-
out an inspection. The
That appears to have
become a point of conten-
tion between Pacifi c Sea-
food and Clatsop County
after a worker from Mol-
dova tested positive upon
arrival in Warrenton in
June, according to emails
reviewed by The Oregonian.
County offi cials wanted
close contacts who traveled
with the worker to quar-
antine but Pacifi c Seafood
pointed to the state’s inves-
tigative guidelines, which
allow for asymptomatic
exposed workers in essen-
tial industries to return to
work during the quarantine
period if accommodations
are made to prevent possi-
ble exposure to other staff.
According to The Asto-
rian, the Oregon Health
Authority took over con-
tact tracing among Pacifi c
Seafood workers after the
dispute and took the lead
following the outbreak at
the Warrenton facility in
September.
A spokesman for the
Oregon Health Author-
ity said the agency stepped
in to provide assistance at
the request of the county
following the September
outbreak, but The Asto-
rian reported that Clat-
sop County wants to be the
lead agency responding to
any future coronavirus out-
breaks at Pacifi c Seafood in
Warrenton.
Following the Septem-
ber outbreak, Pacifi c Sea-
food had both workers who
tested positive and their
close contacts quarantine,
according to the Oregon
Health Authority.
The September out-
break in Warrenton led Gov.
Kate Brown to put Clat-
sop County on the state’s
coronavirus watch list. It
also prompted the Warren-
ton-Hammond School Dis-
trict to close schools for
in-person instruction.
Pacifi c Seafood volun-
tarily suspended all oper-
ations on Sept. 24 after
the extent of the outbreak
became clear. The company
began reopening on Sept.
30, bringing back a group
of workers who had tested
negative and had not been
deemed close contacts. An
additional group of workers
who had previously tested
positive but had completed
their quarantine periods and
been symptom-free for three
days were brought back to
work earlier in October .
“We
are
quickly
approaching the end of our
fi rst testing group’s quar-
antine periods and will
continue to work with the
Oregon Health Authority
to create a plan to safely
return them back to work in
a phased reopening of our
operation,” Hogg said.
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