Yesterday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced updates to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (MIOSHA) COVID-19 emergency rules as many employers return to in-person work. The governor also announced an updated Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) COVID-19 Gatherings and Face Masks epidemic order, eliminating outdoor capacity limits and increasing indoor social gatherings to 50% capacity, which is set to take effect on June 1.
MIOSHA has updated other aspects of the emergency rules to reflect the recent order from MDHHS and guidance from the CDC. Those changes include:
- Employers may allow fully vaccinated employees to not wear face coverings and social distance provided they have a policy deemed effective to ensure non-vaccinated individuals continue to follow these requirements.
- The rules have been reformed focusing on performance, eliminating industry-specific requirements. Definitions have been updated to more clearly reflect changes in close contact and quarantining requirements for fully vaccinated employees.
- Cleaning requirements have been updated to reflect changes in CDC recommendations.
- Employers should continue to have and implement a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan per the updated rules.
Also under the amended set of emergency rules, MIOSHA will remove the requirement that employers create a “Policy prohibiting in-person work for employees to the extent that their work activities can feasibly be completed remotely.”
The proposed permanent workplace rules set for a public hearing on May 26th have been withdrawn, and the hearing has been canceled.
The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) will be hosting a webinar on the updated emergency rules today (May 25) at 2:30. You can view the webinar here.
Full text of the rules can be found here.
Workplace resources from MiOSHA can be found here.
Herasanna Richards is a legislative associate handling energy, environmental, elections, and external municipal services for the League. She can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0309.