California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is further clarifying its recently adopted COVID-19 worker safety emergency temporary standard (ETS) for a variety of issues and situations, amid ongoing opposition from hundreds of employer and industry groups that are urging state leaders to delay enforcement of the rules and provide related relief.
Local unions are welcoming President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary, praising Walsh both for his overall stance on worker safety and his administration’s imposition of comprehensive workplace protections from COVID-19 -- previewing a top priority for the Biden OSHA.
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D), a former president of the city’s building union, as his nominee for Secretary of Labor, following through on campaign promises to give unions a strong voice in labor policy and putting Walsh in charge of an expected push to ramp up OSHA’s enforcement efforts.
A coalition of agriculture industry groups is suing the California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) in a bid to overturn the state’s recently adopted COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for workplace safety, charging the new rules exceed the agency’s authority and threaten to cripple food production and distribution chains.
For OSHA’s 50th anniversary, President-elect Joe Biden is renewing his pledge to quickly direct the agency to consider whether to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) that would mandate workplace COVID-19 protections for employees, while also vowing to ramp up OSHA’s enforcement efforts and staffing levels.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Director John Howard is warning employers against strictly applying guidance NIOSH issued with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on reducing workplace COVID-19 infections, saying new research on the virus can render such guides “stale.”
OSHA has announced its latest sector-specific partnership program, targeting worker safety conditions at wireless infrastructure like cellular towers in a bid to “eliminate” injuries and fatalities from a host of hazards just as many communications companies are looking to build new infrastructure that supports 5G cellular service.
Lawmakers have agreed to a short-term COVID-19 recovery package that drops both Republicans’ demand for employer liability waivers and Democrats’ proposed aid to state and local governments, teeing up a potential return to that long-running battle in the early days of President-elect Joe Biden’s term.
Several employers and national business groups are suing California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) over its recently adopted COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS), claiming in part that a mandate to provide paid leave for sick or exposed workers exceeds the agency’s authority, and that the rulemaking sidestepped key procedural requirements.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), selected to be President-elect Joe Biden’s health services chief, is petitioning a state court to order Amazon to respond to several subpoenas seeking information about the company’s COVID-19 worker safety protocols and the status of COVID infections at its facilities across the state.