NASF Issues OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard Update

With the latest Center for Disease Control (CDC) announcement yesterday, many in the surface coatings industry are looking for clarity on rules or guidance for mask wearing, vaccinations and physical distancing in the workplace.

NASF has released an analysis of the CDC announcement from its coalition legal colleagues as follows. An appropriate interpretation is that under this new CDC guidance, employers may permit their fully vaccinated employees to work without a mask or distancing, inside or outside, unless there are mask and distancing requirements in an applicable:

• State OSH Plan emergency temporary standard
• Governor’s executive order 
• A state or county health department mask mandate 
• A state law, rule or regulation
• A local law, rule, regulation; or
• “Local [i.e., county or municipal] business and workplace guidance.” 

Conversely, employers operating in states or counties that continue to have active mask and distancing mandates, or where the locality continues to mandate or recommend masks and distancing in workplaces, should continue to comply with those requirements. 

A recent member memo from the The NASF member memo is extensive, and notes that even with this week’s new CDC guidance, the White House is working through 40 different meetings with separate interests and organizations as it reviews federal OSHA’s draft of its Emergency Temporary Standard for COVID in the workplace. 

The memo states that it is unclear at this point whether federal OSHA will issue its emergency standard in the coming weeks, but that a broader, more aggressive standard would be difficult to justify now that the CDC revised guidance has been released. recommendation for workplaces is that states: “Our general recommendation Given this uncertainty, NASF notes that coalition counsel Eric Conn of Conn Maciel Carey, LLP suggests that employers wait a little longer to make changes to current mask and distancing policies, and that governors and state and local health departments will be responding to the new guidance in the coming days.

More details are available in the NASF member memo.  For more information about the NASF or to become a member, visit nasf.org.