New York State: Executive Order Guidance of Essential Businesses or Entities

New York State has issued an Executive Order regarding “guidance on determining whether a business enterprise is subject to a workforce reduction under recent executive orders”.

Specific points applicable to the lumber/building materials industry include:

Essential Retail Including

– Hardware, appliance and building material stores

Construction

– All non-essential construction must shut down except emergency construction, (e.g. a project necessary to protect health and safety of the occupants, or to continue a project if it would be unsafe to allow to remain undone until it is safe to shut the site).

– Essential construction may continue and includes roads, bridges, transit facilities, utilities, hospitals or health care facilities, affordable housing, and homeless shelters. At every site, if essential or emergency non-essential construction, this includes maintaining social distance, including for purposes of elevators/meals/entry and exit. Sites that cannot maintain distance and safety best practices must close and enforcement will be provided by the state in coordination with the city/local governments. This will include fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

– For purposes of this section construction work does not include a single worker, who is the sole employee/worker on a job site.

The full Executive Order can be read here.