OSHA to develop emergency standard for vaccination mandate

On September 9, U.S. President Joe Biden issued several mandates to increase Covid-19 vaccinations that will greatly impact the construction industry. Among the executive orders signed by the president is a mandate that all employees of contractors that do business with the federal government will need to be vaccinated. As well, employers with 100 or more employees will need to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require unvaccinated workers to produce a negative COVID test result on a weekly basis, according to the White House website.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administ

Photo Credit: OSHA.gov

ration (OSHA) is working to develop an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to outline the requirements and how they will be enforced. This requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses.

“To continue efforts to ensure that no worker loses a dollar of pay because they get vaccinated, OSHA is developing a rule that will require employers with more than 100 employees to provide paid time off for the time it takes for workers to get vaccinated or to recover if they are under the weather post-vaccination,” The White House said. “This requirement will be implemented through the ETS.”

The Association of Equipment Dealers (AEM) is hosting a webinar, “This Will Only Hurt for a Second: Implementing a Company-Wide COVID Vaccination Plan” on Tuesday, September 14 at 2:00 pm CST. The new vaccination plan will be discussed. To register, pleaes visit https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eohTYbdXTVaAM9bZsyetLQ.