On September 6, 2021 (Labor Day), Governor Hochul announced that the commissioner of health has designated COVID-19 a highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health under New York State's HERO Act. This designation requires all employers to implement workplace safety plans that were recently adopted, but not required to placed in effect until a designation was made.

Pursuant to the requirements of the HERO Act and recent emergency DOL regulations, implementation of the adopted plan requires employers to provide a verbal review of the prevention plan with all employees, provide each employee with a copy of the prevention plan in English or in the language identified as the primary language of such employees, and post a copy of the prevention plan in a visible and prominent location at the worksite.