OSHA Announces COVID-19 Safety Rule

The New York Times (6/10, Scheiber) reports that on Thursday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration “announced a rule...outlining steps that employers must take to protect workers from the risk of [COVID-19], but it will apply only to the health care industry, not to other high-risk workplaces, as the Biden administration initially indicated.” According to the Times, “The rule will require health care employers to provide protective equipment like masks, to screen and triage patients for the risk of [COVID-19] and to ensure adequate ventilation and distancing, among other measures.”

The Washington Post (6/10, Rosenberg) reports that the rule, called the emergency temporary standard (ETS), “will apply only to health-care facilities.” The department also plans to “issue updated guidance for facilities that have an elevated risk of transmission, such as meatpacking plants, grocery stores and high-volume retail locations.”

Homepage for OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard for the Health Care Industry:  https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets

Summary/Fact Sheet of Temporary Standards: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA4122.pdf

Full PDF of the new requirements:  https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/covid-19-healthcare-ets-reg-text.pdf