This Week's Update: OSHA's ETS and State Government Infectious Disease Prevention Policies

This week we are joined by health and safety experts to discuss what we can expect in the new OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) including when it is expected to come out and how they may enforce it. This discussion will cover both public and private sector workplaces. What are some of the expected legal challenges? What lessons can be learned from other state-plan states as well as states operating under federal plans only. Bring your questions for our panel of experts. 

Guest Speakers:

• Debbie Berkowitz, Former Program Director of Worker H&S, National Employment Law Project, is a worker safety and health policy expert and advocate. She was the Worker Safety and Health Program Director at the National Employment Law Project for six years where she worked with national and state partners to develop successful policies and campaigns that improved conditions for vulnerable, low-wage workers in dangerous industries, including temporary workers and those in the meat, poultry and food industry. Most recently she helped lead campaigns for stronger State and Federal standards to protect workers from COVID-19.   
   
• Marina Jabsky, Industrial Hygienist at NYCOSH, where her roles include providing technical assistance, support, training, and conducting investigations and risk assessments related to concerns about exposures to workplace hazards. Much of her work these days involves indoor air quality concerns, and ventilation-related questions. Marina has experience in construction safety, including hazardous materials such as asbestos and silica, healthcare facility compliance, including Legionella contamination control, as well as the comprehensive practice of industrial hygiene for a global testing, inspection, and certification company. 

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U45ES006179. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.