On October 19, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ met with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to share about the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) draft emergency temporary standard (ETS). OSHA sent the draft ETS—the details of which remain unknown—to OMB for review on October 12, a signal that a final ETS could be issued within a matter of days or weeks. The OSHA ETS will require employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested for infection on at least a weekly basis. It should be noted, however, that ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ engaged outside legal counsel weeks ago to provide a legal memorandum that identifies the standards OSHA must meet to justify using the ETS process instead of the normal administrative procedures typically employed. After ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ reviews the final ETS, the association will measure it against its legal memorandum to determine whether a court challenge is warranted and evaluate our chances for success. No legal challenge can be successfully mounted until the ETS is released in final form.
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and its members have encouraged voluntary COVID-19 vaccination for their employees since the vaccines became available. The construction industry has proven throughout the pandemic that it can work in a safe and essential manner. OSHA has previously deemed many construction activities as low exposure risks.
For more information, contact Kevin Cannon at kevin.cannon@agc.org or Nazia Shah at Nazia.Shah@agc.org.