Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday signed the HERO Act, making permanent certain workplace health care protections related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The HERO Act amends existing state labor law in an effort to protect New Yorkers from occupational exposure to airborne infectious diseases by reducing workplace transmission and community spread through enforceable health and safety standards. Additionally, it permits workplace health and safety committees that allows employers and employees to work together to stop the spread of airborne infectious diseases.

“Because of the high potential for transmission of COVID-19 and other airborne infectious diseases in the workplace and, thereby, the communities that workers live in, and the economic importance of the workplace, it is necessary to enact enforceable safety and health standards for airborne infectious diseases,” the text of the bill states.

A look at the mandates that New York employers may face under the HERO Act can be found on the New York’s State of Mind blog, written by Henry Meier, the New York Credit Union’s senior vice president and general counsel.