In a surprising change of events, Cal/OSHA called a special meeting yesterday evening and voted to withdraw all the proposed revisions to the ETS it had approved last week. The vote was held after the Board again considered the latest guidance regarding masking from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The meeting, attended by members of the public including workers, industry leaders, employers and other stakeholders shared their views on the matter in more than two and a half hours of public comment.

The now withdrawn revised emergency standards were expected to go into effect no later than June 15 pending approval by the Office of Administrative Law. At yesterday's meeting, the Cal/OSHA Board voted unanimously to withdraw those revisions. Instead, the Board will review the most current mask guidance from the CDC and CDPH and could consider new revisions at a future meeting, perhaps as early as the regular meeting on June 17. If they did so, any revisions could go into effect as early as June 28, 2021. In the meantime, the protections set forth in the original ETS protocols will remain in effect.