OSHA Issues New Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Healthcare Workers

​Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard to protect healthcare workers from contracting COVID-19. OSHA has provided this flowchart to determine if your workplace is covered by the new emergency temporary standard. The standard does not specifically mention personal care, but it notes that it does not apply to the following situation: 

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“Home healthcare settings where all employees are fully vaccinated and all non-employees are screened prior to entry and people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are not present.” To simplify: if your employees are vaccinated, anyone with a suspected COVID case is staying home, and non-employees are screened, the new OSHA standard does not apply to your agency. 

​You can find all of the resources here: https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets 

You can also find a detailed breakdown of the OSHA ETS by Polsinelli Law Firm here. ​