OSHA Terminates COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare Workers
Is COVID-19 still a thing, and does OSHA care about it? Yes and yes. We all know that COVID-19 is still around. On the OSHA front, the agency seems to be focused less exclusively on COVID-19 and plans to take a broader approach. Refresher on OSHA’s Work During the Pandemic On June 21, 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS ) to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19. The ETS also served as a proposed rule for a permanent standard to address COVID-19 exposure in healthcare settings. OSHA submitted a draft final rule to the Office of Management and Budget in December 2022. However, the COVID-19 pandemic evolved, and the resources needed to finalize a separate COVID-19 standard grew, which resulted in a House Joint Resolution terminating the national emergency and OSHA terminating the rulemaking. Now What? OSHA determined that a more effective strategy would be to create a broader infectious diseases standard for healthcare workers. This new standard will cover mul...