Cal/OSHA Update: THE VOTES ARE IN AND IT’S OFFICIAL!

The Standards Board Approved the Updated Cal/OSHA Covid-19 Requirements and Governor Newsom Issued an Executive Order Making Them Effective

Note: This post was updated on June 18, 2021.

On June 17, 2021, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board voted 5-1 to approve the revised Covid-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) and, as promised, Governor Newsom promptly issued Executive Order No. N-09-21 holding that the new ETS shall not be subject to the regular 10-day approval process by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for emergency regulations.  Instead, the new ETS became effective when the OAL filed them with the California Secretary of State on June 18, 2021. As a result, face coverings/masking and other social distancing requirements shall be consistent between Cal/OSHA rules and public health guidelines from the CDC and California Department of Public Health.

A full copy of the approved ETS can be found here.

A full copy of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order No. N-09-21 can be found here.

As we have discussed in our prior blogs on this topic, employers are encouraged to read the ETS as they continue to impose certain mandates on employers to prevent, and respond to, Covid-19 in the workplace.