What Does the COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate for U.S. Government Contractors Mean for You?

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate recently issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force affects nearly all federal contractors
A COVID-19 vaccine mandate recently issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force affects nearly all federal contractors.

A recent vaccination mandate from the U.S. government will have a tremendous impact on the workforce of contractors and subcontractors that have contracts with the federal government. Many employers and employees are facing decisions they never expected to have to make.

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate recently issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force affects nearly all federal contractors. The COVID-19 Workplace Safety Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors requires the employees of federal contractors to be fully vaccinated by December 8 and imposes other pandemic-related workplace safety requirements.

On September 9, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his Path Out of the Pandemic: COVID-19 Action Plan. One of the main goals of the plan is to get more people vaccinated. As part of that plan, the president signed Executive Order 14042, … Read more...

OSHA to Ramp Up COVID-19 Enforcement Under Biden: Law Firm

OSHA COVID-19 Rules

Under the new Joe Biden administration, OSHA will take a more aggressive approach to regulation enforcement and will quickly step up measures to combat the effects of COVID-19 in the workplace, according to a health and safety-focused law firm.

Lawyers at Conn Maciel Carey made these and other OSHA-related predictions in a webinar that took stock of the agency’s recent past under the outgoing Donald Trump Republicans and looked ahead to what 2021 will look like under Biden’s Democrats.

During the pandemic, OSHA’s enforcement efforts have tended to concentrate on a select few types of citations, asserted partner Kate McMahon. These have largely been healthcare-oriented, with less emphasis on manufacturing-related wrongdoing. Biden’s OSHA will broaden that scope, both by industry and by citation type, using a few well-known methods at its disposal, she said.

“The general duty clause is an available tool that we think the Biden administration may use … Read more...

Breathing a Sigh of Relief: The Answers to the CDC’s Top Ten FAQs on Respirator Use

If “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” then the importance of wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during this post-pandemic time is beyond critical. Within this category of equipment, respirators are high on the list. However, given that it is quite an advanced piece of equipment (compared to some of its counterparts), users can often have questions in terms of how to best use them.

This brings us to the objective of this blog: to provide you key best practices and the answers to the to the CDC’s top 10 FAQs on respirator use.


What Are Respirators and Why Are They Important?


Let’s take a step back and start from the definition of what a respirator is. Basically, a respirator is a device worn over the face or head which covers the nose and mouth areas. By design, they are also used to reduce the wearer’s risk … Read more...

6 Feet Apart: How Our Lives and Workplaces Have Changed Post-COVID

To reduce the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is important for all employers to address the specific exposure risks, sources of exposure, routes of transmission, and other unique characteristics of COVID-19.

For the first time since March 14, I ate a meal in a restaurant. Well, not in a restaurant; on a restaurant patio.

While the restaurant looks the same from the outside and the brunch food is familiarly delicious – brioche French toast with local blueberries, ricotta custard and Ohio maple syrup – everything else is different. Masks are required for all employees and customers, who could take them off once seated. Customers are reminded not to “congregate” around other tables or the bar area to observe proper social distancing. Tables are spaced 6-8 feet apart. Menus are paper and are thrown away after use. Tables are disinfected as soon as diners got up to leave.

While I … Read more...