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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 116 / Monday, June 21, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration 29 CFR Part 1910
Docket No. OSHA20200004
RIN 1218AD36

Occupational Exposure to COVID19;
Emergency Temporary Standard Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Interim final rule; request for comments.

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AGENCY:

SUMMARY: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA is issuing an emergency temporary standard ETS to protect healthcare and healthcare support service workers from occupational exposure to COVID19 in settings where people with COVID19
are reasonably expected to be present.
During the period of the emergency standard, covered healthcare employers must develop and implement a COVID
19 plan to identify and control COVID
19 hazards in the workplace. Covered employers must also implement other requirements to reduce transmission of COVID19 in their workplaces, related to the following: Patient screening and management; Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions;
personal protective equipment PPE, including facemasks or respirators;
controls for aerosol-generating procedures; physical distancing of at least six feet, when feasible; physical barriers; cleaning and disinfection;
ventilation; health screening and medical management; training; antiretaliation; recordkeeping; and reporting. The standard encourages vaccination by requiring employers to provide reasonable time and paid leave for employee vaccinations and any side effects. It also encourages use of respirators, where respirators are used in lieu of required facemasks, by including a mini respiratory protection program that applies to such use.
Finally, the standard exempts from coverage certain workplaces where all employees are fully vaccinated and individuals with possible COVID19 are prohibited from entry; and it exempts from some of the requirements of the standard fully vaccinated employees in well-defined areas where there is no reasonable expectation that individuals with COVID19 will be present.
DATES:
Effective dates: The rule is effective June 21, 2021. The incorporation by
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reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of June 21, 2021.
Compliance dates: Compliance dates for specific provisions are in 29 CFR
1910.502s. Employers must comply with all requirements of this section, except for requirements in paragraphs i, k, and n by July 6, 2021.
Employers must comply with the requirements in paragraphs i, k, and n by July 21, 2021.
Comments due: Written comments, including comments on any aspect of this ETS and whether this ETS should become a final rule, must be submitted by July 21, 2021 in Docket No. OSHA
20200004. Comments on the information collection determination described in Section VII.K of the preamble OMB Review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 may be submitted by August 20, 2021 in Docket Number OSHA2021003.
ADDRESSES: In accordance with 28
U.S.C. 2112a, the agency designates Edmund C. Baird, Associate Solicitor of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Office of the Solicitor, U.S.
Department of Labor, to receive petitions for review of the ETS. Service can be accomplished by email to zzSOLCovid19-ETS@dol.gov.
Written comments: You may submit comments and attachments, identified by Docket No. OSHA20200004, electronically at www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Follow the online instructions for making electronic submissions.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agencys name and the docket number for this rulemaking Docket No. OSHA20200004. All comments, including any personal information you provide, are placed in the public docket without change and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, OSHA
cautions commenters about submitting information they do not want made available to the public or submitting materials that contain personal information either about themselves or others, such as Social Security Numbers and birthdates.
Docket: To read or download comments or other material in the docket, go to Docket No. OSHA2020
0004 at www.regulations.gov. All comments and submissions are listed in the www.regulations.gov index;
however, some information e.g., copyrighted material is not publicly available to read or download through that website. All comments and submissions, including copyrighted
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material, are available for inspection through the OSHA Docket Office.
Documents submitted to the docket by OSHA or stakeholders are assigned document identification numbers Document ID for easy identification and retrieval. The full Document ID is the docket number plus a unique fourdigit code. OSHA is identifying supporting information in this ETS by author name and publication year, when appropriate. This information can be used to search for a supporting document in the docket at http
www.regulations.gov. Contact the OSHA
Docket Office at 2026932350 TTY
number: 8778895627 for assistance in locating docket submissions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
General information and press inquiries: Contact Frank Meilinger, Director, Office of Communications, U.S. Department of Labor; telephone 202 6931999; email meilinger.francis2@dol.gov.
For technical inquiries: Contact Andrew Levinson, Directorate of Standards and Guidance, U.S.
Department of Labor; telephone 202
6931950.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The preamble to the ETS on occupational exposure to COVID19 follows this outline:
Table of Contents I. Executive Summary II. History of COVID19
III. Pertinent Legal Authority IV. Rationale for the ETS
A. Grave Danger B. Need for the ETS
V. Need for Specific Provisions of the ETS
VI. Feasibility A. Technological Feasibility B. Economic Feasibility VII. Additional Requirements VIII. Summary and Explanation of the ETS
Authority and Signature
I. Executive Summary This ETS is based on the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act OSH Act or Act and legal precedent arising under the Act. Under section 6c1 of the OSH Act, 29 U.S.C.
655c1, OSHA shall issue an ETS if the agency determines that employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards, and an ETS is necessary to protect employees from such danger. These legal requirements are more fully discussed in Pertinent Legal Authority Section III
of this preamble.
For the first time in its 50-year history, OSHA faces a new hazard so grave that it has killed nearly 600,000

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