Minnesota OSHA receives federal OSHA emergency temporary standard

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will publish a COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) (http://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2) in the Federal Register on Nov. 5, 2021.

The ETS requires all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require those who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis.

Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) Compliance has received the ETS and will review the details of the new rule.

As an OSHA-approved state plan, MNOSHA must be as effective as federal OSHA in enforcing safe and healthful working conditions.

MNOSHA needs to notify federal OSHA of the action it will take within 15 days and adopt an ETS that is at least as effective as the federal OSHA ETS within 30 days after the final federal rule is published Nov. 5 in the Federal Register.

After initial review, MNOSHA will provide more information about the ETS in future webinars and on the Department of Labor and Industry website (www.dli.mn.gov).