• OSHA has issued two rulemakings for COVID-19 in 2021 but withdrew one of them and withdrew most of the provisions from the other. Only certain recording and reporting provisions remain in place.
• OSHA hopes to issue two more rulemakings — one on COVID-19 for healthcare and the other on infectious diseases.

On June 21, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) adopted a Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (Healthcare ETS) to protect workers from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in settings where they provide healthcare or healthcare support services. By law, under 29 U.S.C. 655(c), an ETS is effective until superseded by a permanent standard — a process contemplated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act to occur within 6 months of the ETS’s promulgation. Therefore, on December 27, 2021, OSHA announced that the agency:

• Will continue to work to issue a final standard that will protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 hazards;
• Will work on its broader Infectious Diseases rulemaking;
• Withdrew the non-recordkeeping portions of the healthcare ETS; but
• Is keeping in effect the COVID-19 log and reporting provisions at 29 CFR 1910.502(q)(2)(ii), (q)(3)(ii)-(iv), and (r).

The Occupational Exposure to COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings final rule reached the Office of Management and Budget on December 7, 2022. Once or if approved by the budget office, that rulemaking may be published in the Federal Register. In addition, OSHA hopes to publish the proposed Infectious Diseases rule in the Federal Register by June 2024.

It is noteworthy that, on November 5, 2021, OSHA issued a separate rulemaking, the Vaccination and Testing ETS, with the intent to protect unvaccinated workers of large employers with 100 or more workers from workplace exposure to COVID-19. However, after the Supreme Court stayed the Vaccination and Testing ETS on January 13, 2022, OSHA withdrew it effective January 26, 2022. OSHA did not withdraw the Vaccination and Testing ETS as a proposed rule, however, and the agency strongly encourages vaccination of workers.