OSHA Sends Infectious Disease NPRM to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking from the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSAH) on “Infectious Diseases”. OSHA published a request for information on this rulemaking in 2010, and held stakeholder meetings in 2011.

According to the Spring 2024 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“Employees in health care and other high-risk environments face long-standing infectious disease hazards such as tuberculosis (TB), varicella disease (chickenpox, shingles), Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), and measles, as well as new and emerging infectious disease threats, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and pandemic influenza. OSHA is examining regulatory alternatives for control measures to protect employees from exposure to pathogens that can cause significant infectious disease. Workplaces where such control measures might be necessary include: health care, emergency response, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, drug treatment programs, and other occupational settings where employees can be at increased risk of exposure to individuals who are potentially infectious. A standard could also apply to laboratories, which handle materials that may be a source of pathogens, and to pathologists, coroners' offices, medical examiners, and mortuaries.”

Commentary:

It will be interesting to see if the NPRM is written broadly enough to apply to farm workers handling infected animals (cows and chickens predominantly) like we have been seeing in the current bird flu problem.

I will be surprised if this rulemaking is approved by OMB early enough to be published in the Federal Register before the Inauguration next January. Even if it were published, I would expect this rulemaking to languish in the Trump Administration.