The Cal/OSHA Standards Board is expected to vote this week on updates to its Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) that reflect differing workplace conditions due to COVID-19 vaccine prevalence, specifically changing the quarantine mandate for inoculated employees.
A number of factors since the initial ETS took effect last year have led to the expected changes, Robert Moutrie, policy advocate with the California Chamber of Commerce, told the Northern California Record by email.
“Improved science and knowledge about transmission of COVID-19 over the past six months, as well as evolving federal guidance, have rendered the present emergency regulation’s text out of date,” Moutrie said. “The most notable example is vaccines – the present ETS doesn’t consider vaccinated status at all, so if you are exposed to a COVID-19 case, but you are vaccinated, it doesn’t matter – you still have to quarantine – and that is just out of line with science. The new ETS catches up with present norms – but is likely to also fall out of date in the next few months as science continues to advance on COVID-19.”
Moutrie noted that the revised ETS includes beneficial and overdue changes that will help businesses operate safely.
“Most notably, the amended ETS text finally recognizes that vaccinated employees are protected, and therefore do not need to take all of the same precautions that unvaccinated employees need," he said.
However, the ETS revisions also contain unexpected provisions that will create considerable cost and feasibility concerns for businesses, Moutrie said, particularly the requirement that employers give N95 respirators to all indoor employees who are unvaccinated starting July 31.
“That is potentially a huge demand on the N95 market that will drive up costs and strain supply chains, while directly competing with healthcare and outdoor workers exposed to wildfire smoke,” Moutrie said. “Overall, we see the new text as a mixed bag. Some provisions will certainly help the state move forward into safe re-opening, but many of the new provisions are vague and appear to add unexpected costs for employers.”
The ETS changes are scheduled to be voted on by the Cal/OSHA Standards Board on May 20. They are expected to be in effect across all California workplaces by early June.
“For workers and employers, the single most important thing about the new ETS is simple – encourage vaccination and get vaccinated. Vaccination will make you safer, and the ETS’s requirements for employers get easier if more of the workplace is vaccinated,” Moutrie said.
“The second most important thing – for employers particularly – is to review the new ETS text as soon as possible and start preparing to comply. Indoor employers, particularly, may want to look at stockpiling N95 masks if they do not anticipate their workforce being 100% vaccinated by July 31.”