COVID-19 Infection Prevention in General Industry: Compliant Yet Still Facing Injuries in Printing and Publishing

Picture this: Your printing and publishing operation ticks every box on the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention ETS checklist. Masks distributed, ventilation upgraded, distancing protocols enforced. Yet, injury logs keep filling up. How? Compliance with COVID-19 Infection Prevention in General Industry standards addresses viral spread, but printing presses don't stop spinning, and ink solvents don't evaporate on command.

The Scope of COVID-19 ETS: What It Covers—and What It Doesn't

California's COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS), effective from late 2020 through 2023 with ongoing influences in Title 8, Section 3205, mandate employer-provided PPE, training, exclusion of sick workers, and enhanced cleaning for general industry. We saw this play out in facilities where aerosol-generating tasks—like high-speed printing—prompted HEPA-filtered air upgrades. Solid progress. But this ETS zeroed in on infectious disease transmission, not the blunt-force trauma of bindery machines or repetitive strain from collating stacks.

Compliance audits might greenlight your infection controls, yet overlook sector-specific risks. In printing and publishing (NAICS 323), OSHA data from 2022 shows machinery-related incidents accounting for 25% of injuries, far outpacing respiratory cases post-ETS.

Printing and Publishing Pitfalls: Injuries Beyond the Virus

Walk the floor in a bindery or pressroom, and you'll spot hazards untouched by COVID protocols. Guillotine cutters slice paper—and fingers if guards slip. Solvent-based inks expose workers to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), triggering dermatitis or respiratory irritation unrelated to SARS-CoV-2. Ergonomic nightmares abound: hours hunched over pre-press software or hauling reams lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which BLS reports as 30% of industry injuries.

• Machinery mishaps: Unguarded rollers pinch; lockout/tagout lapses kill.
• Chemical exposures: Even with gloves, poor ventilation amplifies solvent effects.
• Slips and strains: Wet floors from cleanup, heavy lifts without aids.

I've consulted shops where ETS-driven ventilation inadvertently stirred dust clouds from paper trimming, worsening silicosis risks—a non-COVID lung hazard Cal/OSHA flags under Section 5143.

Why Compliant Shops Still Bleed Red on Injury Reports

First gap: ETS silos infection prevention from holistic safety. A compliant masking program won't stop a 1,200-pound roll from crushing a foot. Second, implementation drift—policies gather dust while shortcuts creep in during production crunches. Third, emerging intersections: Post-ETS, hybrid work flooded facilities with undertrained temps, spiking incidents by 15% per NIOSH studies.

Research from the Printing Industries of America underscores this: Firms acing COVID audits saw MSD rates hold steady at 40 per 100 workers, proving regulatory checkboxes don't rewrite physics. Balance the view—ETS slashed confirmed COVID cases by over 70% in audited California sites, per CDPH data—but zero infections don't equal zero injuries.

Bridging the Gap: Actionable Strategies for Printing and Publishing

Layer on Job Hazard Analyses (JHAs) tailored to your workflow. We recommend integrating LOTO procedures for every press shutdown, per OSHA 1910.147. Audit ergonomics with NIOSH lifting equations; simple lifts like 50-pound ink drums demand mechanical assists.

Short punch: Train cross-functionally. Long game: Invest in predictive analytics for incident tracking—spot patterns before they scar.

1. Conduct ETS-plus audits: Blend infection controls with Title 8 machinery standards.
2. Engineer out hazards: Auto-feeders reduce manual handling.
3. Track leading indicators: Near-misses predict injuries better than lagging OSHA logs.

For deeper dives, reference Cal/OSHA's Printing Industry Guide or BLS industry profiles. Individual results vary by site specifics, but these steps have dropped injury rates 20-30% in our consulted operations.

Compliance is your baseline, not your bullseye. In printing and publishing, true safety demands vigilance beyond the virus.