The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently advanced the deadline for public input on the COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) to Jan. 19, 2022, a press release from The U.S. Department of Labor said.
OSHA said it lengthened the comment period by 45 days to provide stakeholders extra time to evaluate the ETS and gather information for feedback.
“Submit comments identified by Docket No. OSHA-2021-0007 electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Follow the online instructions for making electronic submissions,” the press release said. “The Federal e-Rulemaking Portal is the only way to submit comments on this rule. Read the Dec. 3, 2021 Federal Register notice for details.”
OSHA first established the emergency regulation on Nov. 5 to safeguard employees against coronavirus transmission in the workplace, the release said. Employers with 100 or more employees are included under the ETS program.
“The pandemic continues to affect workers and workplaces,” the ETS outline listed on the Federal Register said. “While COVID-19 vaccines authorized or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) effectively protect vaccinated individuals against severe illness and death from COVID-19, unvaccinated individuals remain at much higher risk of severe health outcomes from COVID-19.”
Employers participating in the ETS program are expected to establish and administer their own mandatory vaccination program under this regulation, unless they have a policy that requires employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular COVID-19 testing and wear a mask while on the job, according to the release.
“The ETS protects these workers through the most effective and efficient control available vaccination and further protects workers who remain unvaccinated through required regular testing, use of face coverings, and removal of all infected employees from the workplace,” the ETS outline said.
Additional information on the ETS may be found on the OSHA's COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS website.
