Emergency COVID-19 amendment in place

The New Mexico Environment Department adopted a second emergency amendment to state workplace safety laws that requires employers to report positive COVID-19 cases among employees to the agency within four hours of being notified of the case.

This second emergency amendment is necessary as the original emergency amendment expired before a permanent amendment was put in place.

The second emergency amendment went into effect Thursday and will remain in effect for no more than 120 days unless NMED proposes and the Environmental Improvement Board adopts a permanent rule before the end of the 120-day period.

In conjunction with the emergency amendment, NMED is engaging in the formal rule-making process to permanently put in place the reporting requirement.