OSHA’s new general-industry guidance tightening recommendations for face coverings in the workplace is drawing a mixed response from employers’ attorneys, with some praising the agency for aligning its policy with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) while others say the precise scope of the guide is still unclear.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is crafting a five-year action plan to improve the efficacy of personal protective equipment (PPE) for first responders after a meeting where speakers from several public-safety agencies warned of problems with their gear including thermal stress and integrity after exposure to disinfectants.
OSHA has updated its COVID-19 guidance to recommend face coverings for workers at indoor work sites in areas with “substantial or high transmission” of the disease regardless of vaccination status, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guide aimed at stemming the more-contagious “Delta” coronavirus variant.
Employers’ attorneys say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new move to tighten its COVID-19 guidance following a wave of infections by the “Delta” virus variant has created fresh uncertainty on whether vaccinated workers should be required to wear face coverings, and are pushing OSHA to provide an answer.
Amazon and workers suing the online retailer over COVID-19 infection dangers are sparring in appellate court over whether regulators’ withdrawals of pandemic orders and workplace safety guidance based on the success of vaccinations have rendered moot pending litigation over employers’ alleged failure to comply with those mandates.
Labor unions intend to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order OSHA to expand its healthcare-specific COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) to either all employers or specifically to the meatpacking and food-processing sectors, according to a new court filing.
Incoming OSHA chief Doug Parker could seek to tighten the agency’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) following his expected confirmation, an employer attorney said during a July 22 webinar, based on his record of strict regulation as California’s top safety official and the spike in infections due to the virus’s “Delta” variant.
OSHA is extending the deadline for public comments on its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) from July 21 to Aug. 20, giving stakeholders more time to craft comments that could inform both potential changes to the short-term standard and any permanent rulemaking the agency chooses to craft based on it.
A new draft guide from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says key data needed to set exposure limits for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) remains scarce despite an EPA reporting requirement, while touting several agencies’ assessments of the substances as models for workplace protections.
The labor union National Nurses United (NNU) has dropped its court challenge to OSHA’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) without explanation, leaving a challenge by the AFL-CIO and United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) as apparently the only active litigation over the medical-sector rule.