The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is currently considering a request by mine worker unions to require MSHA to create an emergency COVID-19 regulation. The parties have all finished submitting their briefs and now await a ruling. Husch Blackwell’s mine safety and health team represented national industry associations in filing an amicus (“friend-of-the-court”) brief to describe industry protections against the virus.
NIOSH and MSHA collaborated recently to publish more resources to mitigate miner exposure to COVID-19. The materials include a web page with guidance for staying healthy, as well as posters, all provided on both MSHA’s and the CDC’s web sites.
While many employers consider whether and how to use COVID-19 tests of different kinds to help clear employees to return to work, the EEOC has clarified that not all tests are created equal in its eyes. Our partner, Barbara Grandjean, reports on the latest EEOC guidance.
COVID-19 has hit small and medium-sized businesses, and even regional companies, especially hard. On top of losing customers, trying to make payroll and rent, and being squeezed on either end, they have fewer resources to become experts on how to keep their workers safe. Many feel that they simply do not have the time or money to analyze pages of federal and state guidance and prepare detailed return-to-work plans. But, it need not be this way. We’ve got a solution.
All bets are off as regulatory agencies are tugged in every direction in pandemic world. Normally, an election year probably would not have seen particularly aggressive enforcement or rulemaking. For a while, COVID-19 health precautions and furloughed work sites meant reduced inspection activity. But, enforcement may be picking up, and a battle over new regulations is brewing. Here’s your full update.
As companies plan to reopen, we’re getting lots of questions about how to prepare for workers wearing cloth face masks, as advised by the CDC and now required by some jurisdictions. Should your employees wear masks? Must they? What do you need to know to do this right? Here is our summary of key questions and answers.
In the return-to-work phase, many companies will choose to screen employees by taking temperatures with no-contact thermometers. These devices can be important tools, but there are some important details to consider as you choose devices and implement policies.
Many companies are considering deploying health survey and/or contact-tracing apps as part of protecting the workforce as they bring employees back to work. The apps aim to identify if an employee might be infected or has been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. But, before you get started, there are critical privacy issues to consider.
The CDC has published new guidelines enabling workers employed in certain “Critical Infrastructure” jobs to return to work more quickly after they were exposed to people with known or suspected cases of COVID-19. Who’s covered and what are the key action items? Read on for our analysis.
Now for a story that has nothing to do with viruses… In last month’s Rock Products magazine, our colleague Charles Fleischmann analyzed MSHA’s revisions to its inspection procedures. To find out what’s new and different in MSHA inspection policies, read on.