OSHA Sends COVID-19 Regulation to the White House for Approval

On April 26, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sent its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This step in the regulatory process is an important one as the OMB can approve the regulation as written, reject it, or send it back to OSHA for modifications. 

The release of the ETS signals a major change in the Biden Administration from several weeks ago when the regulation was placed on hold by OSHA for further review. It appears that meetings with the regulated community will be held to discuss concerns and issues with the ETS. Meetings with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs are fact finding in nature as Office of Management and Budget (OMB) staff request specific information regarding the impact of the proposed rule. These discussions will be difficult as the rule’s language will not be released or shared until published as a Final Rule by OSHA.  

Rule language associated with an Emergency Temporary Standard is not required to be released for public comment and review prior to becoming final. This is a departure from the usual process in how regulations are developed and without seeing the ETS in advance, it is difficult to fully understand the impact it will have on printing operations. 

PRINTING United Alliance is participating in a coalition of other like mined businesses. The coalition has requested to be included in the meeting with OMB staff so its concerns with potential provisions can be expressed.  

For more information, please contact PRINTING United Alliance’s Government Affairs Department at govtaffairs@printing.org or Adriane Harrison, VP of Human Relations Consulting at aharrison@printing.org.