After a three month delay, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration finally released its Emergency Temporary Standard. The ETS creates new COVID-19 workplace safety requirements, but is applicable only to certain healthcare settings. For all other industries, OSHA instead updated existing, nonbinding guidance.
ETS for healthcare only: The ETS applies only to healthcare settings, and more specifically, is mostly limited to hospitals and other similar acute care facilities. OSHA has issued a helpful chart for employers to assist in determining whether they are covered by the ETS. It is worth noting that for some employers, the ETS may apply only to certain portions of their workplaces, if at all.
For covered employers, the ETS creates several workplace safety requirements, including:
- Infection control plans
- Facial coverings and PPE where applicable
- COVID-19 screenings at entry points to the workplace
- Pre-work screenings for employees
- Required removals from the workplace for employees exposed to COVID-19
Nonbinding guidance for all other employers: Those employers not covered by the ETS are not subject to any new legal obligations. Instead, OSHA updated previously issued guidance to account for increased vaccination of the worker population. Specifically, the updated guidance recommends that employers focus protection measures, such as physical distancing, face coverings, and remote work arrangements, on unvaccinated employees and otherwise at-risk workers, while also acknowledging that in most cases employers no longer need to take such steps for full vaccinate workers. The guidance also emphasizes that employers should take available steps to encourage their employees to get vaccinated, such as granting PTO to do so.
If you would like to discuss the ETS with other employers with covered health care settings, please let us know. In the meantime, see here for a discussion thread in the FWPC community page here.