Last Thursday President Joe Biden signed an executive order asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to release revised guidance on COVID-19 safety protocol for workers and consider whether workers need an emergency temporary standard on COVID-19. OSHA has two weeks to release the standard. The order calls for OSHA to issue a standard that depicts fines for employers that violate the rules, by March 15th, if it is "determined to be necessary." OSHA is also asked to review COVID-19 standard enforcement efforts and identify changes that could be made in order to provide better protection for workers and ensure equity in enforcement. The agency was also directed to focus COVID-19 enforcement efforts on violations that put the largest number of workers at serious risk.

OSHA was asked to coordinate with the Department of Labor's Office of Public Affairs and Office of Public Engagement and the regional OSHA offices to craft a multilingual campaign to inform workers of their rights. OSHA will focus the campaign on communities hit hardest by the pandemic.

OSHA has issued more than $3.9 million in COVID-19 related fines after conducting more than 300 workplace inspections since the beginning of the pandemic. The main citation was violation of the general duty clause.