President-Elect Joe Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election sets up a quick reversal of several Trump OSHA policies including the agency’s decision not to craft an enforceable COVID-19 safety standard, along with likely moves to bolster its enforcement program and revive Obama-era rulemaking efforts.
OSHA has issued new guidance on how to use workplace ventilation systems to reduce exposures to the coronavirus, including efficiency targets for air filters and recommendations for fan use -- potentially adding specificity not only to its own policies but also to state ventilation mandates that have been criticized as too vague.
Employers’ attorneys are raising “numerous potential concerns” with California’s expected COVID-19 workplace safety standard, previewing potential comments they could file on companies’ behalf once the state releases a formal proposal, or issues they could argue in future litigation over a final rule.
A federal district judge has rejected Amazon workers’ suit over alleged violations of New York COVID-19 protections at a warehouse in the state, holding that OSHA has “primary jurisdiction” over the issue in a decision that underscores states’ limited authority to enforce more-stringent protections than the federal government.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is tasking several state agencies with enforcing new COVID-19 workplace-safety mandates, a response to OSHA’s refusal to craft a binding standard for the virus and a model for other states that lack delegated OSH Act worker safety program authority to nonetheless enact binding pandemic rules.
OSHA has issued new COVID-19 guidance for long-term care workers that outlines protective steps employers should take in order to avoid enforcement under the agency’s respiratory protection standard, the latest example of the agency’s use of existing rules and sector-specific guides to shape firms’ responses to the pandemic.
Unions plan to urge Democratic nominee Joe Biden to quickly strengthen OSHA’s enforcement program if he wins the Nov. 3 presidential election by arguing that it would be the most effective way to boost worker safety, while bracing for “an all-out assault on worker protections” if President Donald Trump wins re-election.
Employers’ attorneys are expecting the COVID-19 pandemic to remain OSHA’s top issue regardless of how the Nov. 3 presidential election ends, but are weighing the potential for a shift in the agency’s approach if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins and orders the creation of an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus.
The Department of Labor (DOL) is curtailing OSHA and other agencies’ public announcements of enforcement actions, directing them not to publicize violations or fines until a case is resolved in court, despite findings that press releases are more effective than inspections at deterring future violations.
California Chamber of Commerce representatives are raising concerns over the state OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) plan to adopt next month an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19, charging that regulators will release the proposed text of the rule for public review only five days before the standards board votes on it.