California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved a revised COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) despite ongoing opposition to certain provisions by employer representatives and uncertainty about whether the state will pursue a permanent COVID worker-safety regulation or a broader infectious-disease rulemaking in the months to come.
September 16, 2026
OSHA is formally proposing to withdraw Arizona’s state plan authority under the OSH Act, pointing not only to the state’s failure to adopt a counterpart to the COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare workers but a longer “history of shortcomings” on fall protections and overall enforcement dating back to 2012.
Date:
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is floating new revisions to its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) that would drop several requirements and instead require employers to follow frequently updated guidance from the state’s health department, though employers’ attorneys say some provisions of the new rule are still too stringent.
Date:
A new report from the California state government Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) lays out a case that climate change will increase worker injuries, illnesses and fatalities from a wide range of causes, warning lawmakers that they may need to take a more aggressive approach to ensure work-safety standards fully protect employees in the years ahead.
Date:
The California legislator who proposed a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all workers and contractors has shelved the bill in the face of widespread employer opposition, but lawmakers are moving ahead with another contentious work-safety bill that would tighten recent California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) rules on wildfire smoke and heat illness.
Date:
Industry and business groups are attacking a bill advancing in the California Legislature that would prohibit an employer from taking any “adverse action” against employees who either leave or refuse to report to a job site if they feel “unsafe” due to a state of emergency, while requiring that workers be allowed to use their mobile phones during such situations.
Date:
The California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) is raising several concerns with a newly proposed state bill that would mandate COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment for all public and private sector workers, including that employers will find it harder to hire and retain workers, and could face burdensome litigation over their compliance.
Date:
California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is preparing to soon release an updated version of its controversial COVID-19 worker safety emergency temporary standard (ETS), drawing fears from employers’ attorneys that the state will ramp up enforcement of the rule even as the contours of the update remain unclear.
Date:
Labor unions are urging Oregon’s worker-safety agency to strengthen its recently proposed permanent heat illness prevention standard by eliminating several key exemptions they say provide businesses with too much flexibility over worker conditions, while at the same time federal OSHA has begun weighing feedback on its own national heat stress rulemaking.
Date:
California could become the first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment for all public and private sector workers under a newly proposed bill that its sponsor says aims to fill the gap left by the Supreme Court’s Jan. 13 decision to stay federal OSHA’s vaccine-or-testing emergency standard for large employers.
Date: