Cal/OSHA to Consider Latest CDC Mask Guidance

Monday, May 24, 2021 | 1

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is drafting revisions to its emergency temporary standards for COVID-19 workplace safety in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidance that permits vaccinated individuals to forgo masks indoors, according to a Cal/OSHA memo issued Wednesday.

In the memo, Cal/OSHA asked the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to postpone its own vote on updating the mask guidance for employers — which would have put employers in line with the CDC and the state’s announcement that mask mandates would be lifted June 15 — and allow it time to “present a new proposal at a future meeting.”

Cal/OSHA said in the memo that it will “limit any potential changes to consideration of the recent guidance, in order to make possible a targeted effective date of June 15.”

The new draft language is expected to be posted on May 28 and a public hearing is slated for June 3, according to an email from Cal/OSHA.

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