Pittsburgh occupational health rules help protect both employers and employees. By requiring certain safety precautions, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) helps ensure that employees can enjoy a safe and healthy workplace. Carefully following all Pittsburgh workplace health guidelines, as well as state and federal rules, also benefits employers by limiting liability in the case of an employee injury, illness, or even death. Pittsburgh occupational health services include antibody testing, vaccines, physical and respiratory health exams, and vision and hearing tests.
Neither the city of Pittsburgh nor the state of Pennsylvania has a federally approved occupational safety and health (OSHA) regulatory program. Instead, there are six federal OSHA offices that cover private-sector workers and employers in the state. Pittsburgh occupational health issues are handled by the federal OSHA office located inside the William Moorhead Federal Building.
There are several rules and regulations that help ensure workplace health and safety in the city of Pittsburgh. For example, to be hired as a police officer with the Allegheny County police force, after receiving a conditional offer for employment candidates must complete a physical examination. This includes a drug test and vision testing. To become a Pittsburgh firefighter, candidates must also take a medical (stress test) examination after receiving a conditional offer for employment and before receiving a final offer.
The Respiratory Protection Program is a workplace occupational health program that was created in 1980. This program is designed to ensure proper use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment used to reduce employee exposure to airborne contaminants and allow them to safely work in potentially hazardous work environments.
The program guidelines include a required initial medical assessment to ensure employees are medically capable of wearing respiratory protective equipment. In some cases, additional medical assessments may also be required.
To protect students, coworkers, and the public, the state of Pennsylvania also requires all school staff that has contact with children to undergo tuberculosis (TB) testing.
More recently, state and local officials were required to create new occupational health rules to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 10, 2021, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that all commonwealth employers working in high-risk congregate care facilities and state health care facilities were required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 7, 2021. In addition, all new external hires would need to be fully vaccinated before starting employment.
On November 1, 2021, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto created specific Pittsburgh occupational health rules regarding COVID-19 by announcing that all city employees would be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 22, 2021.
While vaccine mandates have created some significant employee push-back across the country, there have not been many published decisions on the issue yet. However, in August of 2021, the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas made news by ruling that private employers may deny exemption requests for COVID-19 vaccinations.
