COVID Rulemaking
On January 15, OSHA announced that it has terminated its COVID-19 healthcare rulemaking.
On June 21, 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers from COVID-19 in healthcare settings, which also served as a proposed rule on which OSHA requested comments. The agency received public input on this proposal during multiple comment periods and public hearings from June 2021 through May 2022. OSHA submitted a draft final COVID-19 rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget on Dec. 7, 2022.
On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed into law House Joint Resolution 7, which terminated the national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With today’s announcement, OSHA is now terminating the rulemaking because the most effective and efficient use of agency resources to protect healthcare workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19, as well as a host of other infectious diseases, is to focus its resources on the completion of an Infectious Diseases rulemaking for healthcare.
Penalty Adjustment
Adjusted OSHA civil penalty amounts for 2025.
Based on inflation for 2055, OSHA has made changes to civil penalties.
In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. Under the Act, agencies are required to publish “catch-up” rules that adjust the level of civil monetary penalties and make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation no later than January 15 of each year.
On Jan. 15, 2025, the maximum OSHA penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $16,131 to $16,550 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $161,323 to $165,514 per violation.
For additional details, visit OSHA’s Penalties page and read the final rule for more information.