Plan Submission Instructions for Businesses Maintaining Critical Infrastructure
Clarifying Information regarding Governor’s Health Mandate 10
March 25, 2020 – The Governor’s Health Mandate 10 directs: “All people arriving in Alaska, whether resident, worker or visitor, are required to self-quarantine for 14 days and monitor for illness. Arriving residents and workers in self-quarantine, should work from home, unless you support critical infrastructure.”
If your business meets the criteria identified in Attachment A of the health mandate, and your workers must travel to enter Alaska prior to May 1 and begin work on critical infrastructure immediately, you must submit a plan or protocol for maintaining critical infrastructure to the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development at AlaskaDevelopment@alaska.gov as soon as possible. If workers are able complete a full 14-day self-quarantine before starting work, no plan is required. If you have workers slated to travel to Alaska after May 1, a plan must still be submitted for review. The plan must outline how the spread of COVID-19 will be avoided and not endanger lives in the communities in which you operate, of others who serve as a part of that infrastructure or the ability of that critical infrastructure to function.
Plan Format: The State of Alaska will accept any plan or format your company already has developed. Once submitted, it will be reviewed for compliance and representatives from the State of Alaska will address any shortfalls during the approval process. At a minimum, your businesses plan must address: 1) How you intend to handle on-boarding employees, and 2) Measures to protect the rest of your workforce and the surrounding community. Attached are two possible formats. They were developed by private sector health consultants. The State of Alaska is not requiring you to use either format, but they do meet the minimum requirements. If your business does not already have a plan, you are welcome to use these formats. For additional resource on developing plans, please visit: https://ready.alaska.gov/
Self-Quarantine: All workers arriving in the State must follow the 14-day self-quarantine guidance. If your business meets the definitions of critical infrastructure workers, you may put them to work immediately, provided that you have an approved Community/Workforce Protective Plan and that you enact the protective measures in your plan to safeguard the surrounding community and the remainder of your workforce from the newly arrived workers. All newly arrived workers will observe self-quarantine protocols in their non-work times until they have completed the required 14-day period. The intent is that, to the greatest extent possible, workers will self-quarantine at their final destination in Alaska in order to reduce the risk of infection during onward travel. In cases where self-quarantine at the final destination is not possible for some reason, you would need to identify the reason and what the company’s alternate plan is for self-quarantine.
Submission of Plans: Businesses should submit their plans to the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development at AlaskaDevelopment@alaska.gov. Businesses that do not submit a plan may be subject to a fine identified in Mandate 10.
Submission and Review Process: Once submitted, the Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health & Social Services will review plans for compliance. Representatives of those departments will reach out to each submitter to address any questions or shortfalls noted during the approval process.
Applicability to Shipping Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels: Shipping companies and retailers must submit plans on behalf of individual truckers and aircrews. Plans should include what self-quarantine measures that driver or crew will follow (staying on the truck/ship, remaining overnight in a hotel, etc.) and what measures will be used at the loading dock (for trucks arriving at a store) to minimize risk of community spread. Having the drivers self-quarantine in their vehicles is an acceptable plan. As they come in through the border crossing, they will be asked to complete an individual travel questionnaire, including the information on where they will be heading in Alaska. Please have drivers indicate on that form that they are considered to be traveling in support of critical infrastructure, in accordance with Attachment A of Health Mandate 10. Also, if drivers are spending any time in apartments or hotel rooms before leaving, please ensure that they follow self-quarantine measures.
Applicability to Fishing Vessels: For now, parent companies should submit on behalf of their crews and develop measures for ship captains to implement. Further guidance on this may be published at a later date. Independent ship captains should submit their plans. Having in-coming crews self-quarantine on the vessel is a perfectly acceptable plan; in fact, it is probably preferred. If crewmembers are spending any time in apartments or hotel rooms before sailing, ensure that they follow self-quarantine measures.
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