Health and social policy

Executive Order 13999: Protecting Worker Health and Safety

President: Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Directed OSHA and mine-safety officials to issue updated worker-protection guidance, consider emergency standards, focus enforcement and coordinate with state plans.

Status: Revoked.

Is Executive Order 13999 still in effect? No. Revoked January 20, 2025; COVID emergency standard no longer operative.

A masked construction worker and healthcare workers appear beside a safety checklist and protective shield.
Worker health and safety, illustrated symbolically; not evidence that a particular workplace met an OSHA standard. EO Explained · site-generated editorial illustration · not documentary evidence.

What does Executive Order 13999 do?

OSHA was instructed to update guidance and consider an emergency standard, with mine-safety officials reviewing their own emergency measures.

Administration position: The order’s findings and policy rationale were the Biden administration’s positions. This guide distinguishes them from implementation records and judicial rulings.
SignedJanuary 21, 2021
Lead officialsLabor Department, OSHA and Mine Safety and Health Administration
Express timingOSHA guidance within two weeks; emergency-standard review by March 15, 2021

Before and after

Before the order

Workplace COVID protections relied on existing safety duties, state rules and agency guidance without a dedicated federal emergency standard.

After the order

OSHA issued a healthcare emergency temporary standard in June 2021 and updated broader guidance. The temporary standard ceased operating as an ETS after six months; EO 14148 later revoked the order.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
OSHAIssue guidance and review an emergency standardTwo weeks / by March 15, 2021
OSHAFocus enforcement on high-risk workplaces and retaliationOngoing
MSHAConsider emergency measures for minesAs directed

What happened next

EO 13999 signed.

OSHA healthcare emergency temporary standard took effect.

OSHA announced the healthcare ETS was no longer operating as an emergency temporary standard while permanent rulemaking continued.

EO 14148 revoked EO 13999.