Washington — The vast majority of truck drivers might be exempt from OSHA’s emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 vaccination, testing and masking, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh stated throughout a current TV interview.
Ought to the ETS survive the multiple legal challenges it’s going through, it will apply to employers with greater than 100 workers. These employers would have till Dec. 5 to develop, implement and implement a compulsory COVID-19 vaccination coverage – or develop a coverage that provides workers the selection to get vaccinated or endure weekly COVID-19 testing.
In the meantime, lined workers would have a deadline of Jan. 4 to be absolutely vaccinated or start present process weekly COVID-19 testing. Unvaccinated employees additionally can be required to put on a face masking whereas indoors or in a vehicle “with another person for work purposes.”
Reacting to issues from trucking teams – together with the American Trucking Associations – over the ETS, Walsh stated throughout the interview on CNBC that “the ironic thing is most truckers aren’t covered by this because they’re driving a truck, they’re in a cab, they’re by themselves. They wouldn’t be covered by this.”
ATA and different teams worry that many drivers would go away the trade on account of the ETS, amid a perceived scarcity of drivers.
In a press release issued shortly after Walsh’s feedback, ATA President and CEO Chris Spear referred to as them “an enormous victory for our association and industry.”
Spear continued: “Given the nationwide shortage of truck drivers, it is vital that our industry has the relief it needs to keep critical goods moving, including food, fuel, medicine and the (COVID-19) vaccine itself.”
In a letter dated Oct. 21 and addressed to Sharon Block, performing administrator of the Workplace of Info and Regulatory Affairs, Spear wrote that the affiliation was “gravely concerned” in regards to the affect the ETS would have on the trade, which he estimated may lead to a lack of “up to 37% of drivers to retirements, attrition to smaller carriers and/or conversion to independent contractor owner-operators.”
A Division of Labor spokesperson advised CNBC that the vaccination, testing and masking necessities would apply to truck drivers who work in groups – comparable to two folks in a cab – or those that “interact with people in buildings at their destinations or starting points.”