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FEB2021
A newly released National Safety Council (NSC) survey shows 90 percent of employers are concerned about mental health and chronic stress impacting fitness for duty. In response, the NSC is calling on employers to consider far more than the effects of prescription drugs and illicit substances when identifying and managing employee impairment in the workplace. […]
Nine leading scientific and health organizations have endorsed recommendations for federal and state agencies to create specific guidelines to help prevent aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. A Joint Consensus Statement summarizes what occupational health and safety professionals and scientists know about airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission and outlines recommendations that call for related […]
JAN2021
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued guidance today focused on reducing employees’ COVID-19 exposure risk in U.S. workplaces. During his first week in office, President Biden directed the agency to release guidance to help employers keep healthy employees on the job and those with symptoms or exposure risk at home until it is […]
President Biden issued an Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety on Jan. 21 as part of the new administration’s efforts to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. The order may result in a federal emergency temporary standard. Key provisions are summarized here: Policy to protect the health and safety of workers from COVID-19. […]
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) today forwarded to the Federal Register its Notices of Proposed Rulemakings (NPRM) on wellness programs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The proposed rules address what level of incentives employers may lawfully offer to encourage employee participation in wellness programs […]
DEC2020
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is replacing its 2016 targeted inspection program with a Site-Specific Targeting (SST) Directive for non-construction companies with 20 or more employees. The agency will select workplaces with high rates of injuries and illnesses for enforcement inspections based on data employers submitted on Form 300A for calendar years […]
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today issued an updated version of “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.” The guidance features a new section explaining how COVID-19 vaccination of employees interacts with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII of the Civil Rights […]
There were 5,333 work-related fatalities in the U.S. in 2019, a 2 percent increase from the 5,250 recorded in 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The fatality rate was 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2019, the same rate as 2018 based on data from the Census of Fatal Occupational […]
