On June 21, 2021, Federal OSHA promulgated an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for COVID-19 in the healthcare industry. When this rule was issued, Federal OSHA required that state programs, such as Tennessee, adopt this ETS or promulgate their own rule.
Tennessee OSHA has completed the process of promulgating an emergency temporary rule with an effective date of August 24, 2021. The content of the rule is very similar to, but no more restrictive, than the rule published by Federal OSHA.
Given the similarity of the rule to the ETS, OSHA resources such as the model plan, checklists, etc. would be suitable to comply with the emergency temporary rule.
This rule is applicable to the healthcare industry and related support services only and went into effect September 22, 2021.