Manufacturing employers continue to feel the brunt of emerging and evolving trends related to the COVID-19 pandemic: workplace safety, labor shortages, absence management, remote technology, and employee retention — just to name a few. On the workplace safety front, mask mandates, testing protocols, and vaccine issues continue to make headlines, including President Joe Biden’s September

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had announced this spring its intention to implement a new heat illness standard that will apply to indoor environments. Now, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced “enhanced and expanded” efforts to address heat-related illnesses as part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to workplace safety, climate resilience,

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has offered new COVID-19 guidance indicating that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks or maintain physical distance from others in most settings. However, questions about employers’ compliance obligations and general duty expectations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) remain.

Criticizing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) enforcement efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General (OIG) pushes for a COVID-19, virus-specific standard in its report issued on February 25, 2021.

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