OSHA Gives Up on Covid Healthcare Standard

OSHA on Jan. 13 announced that it terminated efforts to establish a final COVID-19 safety standard to protect workers in healthcare settings.
The agency said it halted its efforts due to the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, adding that any ongoing risk of COVID-19 faced by healthcare workers would be better addressed in an OSHA rulemaking effort that addresses infectious diseases more broadly.
OSHA submitted a draft of its final rule to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs back in early December 2022, where it languished for more than two years and had still yet to be completed as of Monday morning, Politico reported.
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OSHA and the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday that corporate non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that deter individuals from reporting antitrust crimes undermine the goals of whistleblower protection laws.
“By working jointly with partner agencies to break down barriers to employee reporting, OSHA is committed to strengthening our enforcement of whistleblower laws and protecting workers’ voices,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick, in a statement. “This collaboration fosters a culture of accountability and upholds the integrity of worker rights.”
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Nevada has hiked administrative penalties 2.6% for workplace safety violations, effective Jan. 15, according to a Jan. 11 notice from the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
For willful violations, where an employer knowingly fails to comply with an OSHA standard or shows plain indifference to employee safety, the maximum penalty will rise from $161,323 to $165,514. Repeated violations will also see maximum penalties increase from $161,323 to $165,514.
This adjustment aligns with the federal Department of Labor’s annual inflation evaluation.
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Law firm Conn Maciel Carey has published the schedule of its complimentary 2025 OSHA Webinar Series, beginning a Jan. 28 session that will review OSHA’s 2024 activities and look at what the firm’s attorney’s see for the agency in the second Trump Administration.
Presented by CMC’s national OSHA Practice Group, the series “is designed to give employers insight into developments at OSHA during this period of unpredictability and significant change.”
Other upcoming sessions look at very specific workplace safety challenges, including a webinar next month covering common dust and chemical hazards in manufacturing facilities.
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