The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is considering how COVID rules should be handled once the agency’s current emergency rule making authority has ended. The office has released the following:
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) is initiating the process of formal rulemaking that will preserve requirements to mitigate and control the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace beyond their emergency rulemaking authority under the Administrative Procedures Act.
The agency has submitted a Request for Rulemaking to the Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules. Once established, the COVID-19 rules will continue to accommodate a smooth transition back to normal while protecting workplace safety and health of employees until such time as these provisions are no longer necessary.
MIOSHA issued emergency rules for COVID-19 which will expire on April 14, 2021. These emergency rules may be extended for an additional 6 months, at which time formal rules would need to be implemented.
Under the emergency rules, businesses that resume in-person work must, among other things, have a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan and provide thorough training to their employees that covers, at a minimum, workplace infection-control practices, the proper use of personal protection equipment (PPE), steps workers must take to notify the business or operation of any symptoms of COVID-19 or a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.
The emergency rules implement workplace safeguards for all Michigan businesses and specific requirements for industries, including manufacturing, construction, retail, health care, exercise facilities, restaurants and bars.
As part of the rulemaking process, MIOSHA has established a standards advisory committee that will be working with the agency over the next several weeks to review and advise on a draft rule. This process is separate from other workgroups focused on shorter term COVID-19 needs such as the Return-to-Office Work group, recently launched by the Dept. of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
