OSHA
-
OSHA Marks End of Summer with Proposed Heat Standard Publication
Summer may be coming to an end, but the regulatory landscape heated up on August 30 when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its highly anticipated Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Setting proposed rule. The rule, a first-of-its-kind for OSHA, will establish new heat-related standards that could impact roughly… Continue reading
-
Jenner & Block Wishes Bon Voyage to Gay Sigel as She Starts Her Next Adventure with the City of Chicago

As Gay Sigel walked through the doors at One IBM Plaza in Chicago, fresh out of law school and ready to launch her career as an attorney at Jenner & Block, she could not have envisioned the tremendous impact she would have on her clients, her colleagues, and her community over the next 39 years. Continue reading
-
West Virginia v. EPA: The Major Questions Doctrine Arrives to Rein in Administrative Powers

On the final day of its 2022 term, the Supreme Court issued its highly-anticipated opinion in the case of West Virginia v. EPA, 579 U.S. __ (2022), addressing EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), but having much broader implications for the authority of all administrative agencies, signaling a… Continue reading
-
Earth Week Series: The Future of Environmental Regulation

As we near Earth Day 2022, the United States may be headed toward a profound change in the way EPA and similar administrative agencies regulate the complex areas of environmental law. EPA began operating more than 50 years ago in 1970, and has been tasked with promulgating and enforcing some of the most complex regulations… Continue reading
-
OSHA’s Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard Is Promulgated: The Countdown to a Legal Challenge Begins
On June 21, 2021, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had its Occupational Exposure to COVID-19, Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) published in the Federal Register, making it immediately effective on that date. 86 FR 32377 (June 21, 2021). OSHA has the authority to issue an ETS, for immediate application upon publication in the… Continue reading
29 USC §655(c)(1), 86 FR at 23280, 86 FR at 32617, anti-retaliation protections, breakthrough infection, CDC guidance, COVID-19, Emergency Rule, Emergency Temporary Standard, ETS, exposure, Federal Register, Fla. Peach Growers Ass’n, fully vaccinated employees, grave danger, health, illness, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, incurable, Is your workplace covered by the ETS, July 5 2021, mini respiratory protection program, Occupational Exposure to COVID-19, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSH Act, OSHA, paid vaccination leave, patient screening, permanent or fatal, PPE, ventilation standards, work-relatedness -
OSHA’s Updated COVID-19 Workplace Safety Guidance: Now Employers Have the Hard Part
On June 10, 2021, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its long-awaited response to President’s Biden’s January 21, 2021 Executive Order to OSHA, which had directed the agency to consider and, if necessary, by March 15, 2021, issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) in response to workplace hazards from COVID-19. With the… Continue reading
29 CFR part 1904, ASHRAE, at-risk, at-risk workers, barriers, Biden January 21 2021 Executive Order, CDC, cleaning chemicals, close contact, close contact situations, communal areas, communal housing, community exposure, contact tracing, COVID-19, customers, disinfect, distinctive factors, duration of contacts, EEOC, Emergency Temporary Standard, employee, employer’s obligations, employer-provided transport, employers, enforcement protocol, equal opportunity employment law, ETS, exposed, exposure, face covering, family member high risk, federal law, fully vaccinated, General Duty Clause, greater risk, grocery, guests, hazard assessment, healthcare, high-volume, human resource, immunocompromised, indoors, industries, industry, Interim Public Health Recommendation for Fully Vaccinated People, isolation, legal constraints, legal obligation, living quarters, local, manufacturing, May 13, Measures Appropriate for Higher Risk Workplaces with Mixed-Vaccination Status Workers, meat and poultry processing, MERV 13, non-excepted industry, OSH Act, OSHA, paid time off, physical distance, physical distancing, policies and procedures, policy and procedure, PPE, protect unvaccinated, protected worker, Protecting Workers Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace, public, public health, public transportation, quarantine, reasonable accommodation, regulation, respirator, retail, return to work, rules, Safety, Sanitation, SARS-CoV-2 variant, schools, seafood processing, staggered work schedules, state, symptomatic, territorial, tribal, type of contacts, unvaccinated workers, updated guidance, updated OSHA guidance, vaccinated worker, vaccination, ventilation improvements, visitors, workplace flexibilities, workplace hazard -
Where is OSHA’s COVID-19 ETS? No Where the Ides of March.
On his first full day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety, which required OSHA to “consider whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID 19, including with respect to masks in the workplace, are necessary,” and if so, to issue such emergency temporary standards (ETS) by March 15,… Continue reading
13999 § 2(b), 29 USC § 655(c), Biden Administration, COVID-19 Response, COVID‑19, Department of Labor, emergency temporary standards, ETS March 15 2021, Executive Order, hazard-free work environment, Infectious Disease, legal risk, National Strategy, OIG Report, OSHA, Pandemic Preparedness, reduced inspections, US Court of Appeals, vaccination rollout -
OSHA Issues Immediately Effective COVID-19 National Enforcement Program and Updated Enforcement Guidance: No ETS Yet
On March 12, 2012, OSHA took two significant new actions to enhance its enforcement actions regarding COVID-19 workplace safety: (1) establishing the National Emphasis Program – COVID-19 (the NEP) targeting higher hazard industries for OSHA enforcement action; and (2) updating and replacing its former Interim Enforcement Response Plan for COVID-19 (the Enforcement Plan) to prioritize… Continue reading
29 CFR § 1910.1020, 29 CFR part 1904, administrative controls, anti-retaliation principles, CDC Guidelines, CISA, citation, citations, complaint, construction, COVID-19, COVID-19 safety issues, COVID-19 safety violations, CSHO, Department of Labor Regional Solicitor, distancing measures, Emergency Temporary Standard, employees, employers, Enforcement Plan, enforcement policy procedure, engineering controls, essential worker, ETS, exposed worker, face covering, feasible means to abate the hazard, General Duty Clause, HAL, Hazard, Hazard Alert Letter, industries, industry, injury/illness recordkeeping, inspections, interview, January 26 2021, local government, manufacturing, March 15 2021, May 11 2021, merchandising, Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace, multiple death, multiple hospitalization, NAICS, National Emphasis Program, NEP, non-management personnel, OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officers, OSHA Directives System, OSHA envlrocement, OSHA inspection, PPE, private sector employers, recordkeeping documents, reporting documents, retaliation, return-to-work procedures, sanitation practice, serious risk, severe incident, sick, sick worker, state government, Targeted Industries in Healthcare, transportation, unabated hazards, ventilation, violation, walkaround, Whistleblower Protection Program, work practice, worker protection actions, Workplace -
OSHA under Deadline for a Nationwide COVID 19 Workplace Safety Rule: Four States’ Existing Laws and New Federal Guidance and Orders Foretell the Future
On his first full day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety, which required OSHA to “consider whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID‑19, including with respect to masks in the workplace, are necessary,” and if so, to issue such emergency temporary standards (ETS) by March 15, 2021. Executive… Continue reading
13999, 2021, 29 U.S.C. § 655(c), 49 U.S.C. § 20104, aerosol inhalation, Aerosol-Transmitted Disease, ani-retaliation, assess risks of exposure, § 2(b) (Jan. 21, best practice, California, CDC guidance, controls, COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, emergency temporary standards, ETS, exposure, Federal Railroad Administration, General Duty Clause, Governor, guidance, Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19, hazard assessment, hazard of death, hygiene, Identification and Isolation of Sick Employees, Illness Prevention Plan, implementing controls, isolation, January 29, Jeffrey Zients, March 15, Michigan, OIG Report, Oregon, OSH Act, OSHA, Package Delivery Work, personal injury, PPE, President Biden, Protecting Worker Health and Safety, public health directives and orders, quarantine, regulation, return to work, Section 6(c), significant harm, social distancing, Standard Specification for Barrier Face Coverings, TSA, Virginia, workplace flexibilities training -
OSHA Issues Proposed Update to Hazard Communication Standard
On February 5, 2021, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a proposed rule updating its Hazard Communication (“Haz Com”) Standard to align its rules with those in the seventh version of the United Nation’s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), published in 2017. Continue reading
