On December 16, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) will meet to consider the readoption of the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) with substantial changes and updates to take effect on January 14, 2022.
The original Cal/OSHA COVID-19 ETS took effect on November 30, 2020, and the workplace standards were updated on June 17, 2021, to take into account that vaccines were available. Following the issuance of the COVID-19 ETS in November 2020 and the update, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board will vote to adopt this newest proposal on December 16, 2021. A vote for a permanent regulation will likely happen before the Cal/OSHA ETS expires after 90 days.
In anticipation of the December vote, Cal/OSHA released an updated draft on December 3, 2021. The updated text proposes a number of changes to the previous language:
COVID-19 would no longer be defined as an infectious disease and would instead simply be defined as “the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.”
Acceptable tests would be expanded beyond viral tests to include home tests, over-the-counter tests, and point-of-care tests. The proposed regulation would exclude tests that are both self-administered and self-read unless observed by the employer or an authorized telehealth proctor.
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