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OSHA Preps Emergency National COVID-19 Ruling

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is  close to releasing an emergency national temporary standard to protect workers from contracting COVID-19 on the job according to lawyers tracking OSHA’s efforts, Bloomberg Law reports.

The lawyers said the OSHA COVID-19 emergency temporary standard may be made public later this month.

OSHA has cited hundreds of employers for COVID-19 violations since the coronavirus pandemic began last year. There are currently 28 state-approved plans to help protect workers from contracting COVID-19 on the job, according to OSHA’s website. However, there is no federal OSHA emergency rule to be followed by employers nationwide. Efforts by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to draft the OSHA standard ran behind schedule, according to Politico.

Unions, activists, and other advocates have been asking for a national OSHA standard to protect workers from the coronavirus since the Trump administration was in charge last year. As new cases of COVID-19 increase even though more Americans are getting vaccinated, legal issues could arise for a national OSHA standard, Bloomberg Law reported earlier this month.