UPDATE: CISA Guidance on Essential Businesses

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) updated its list of “Critical Essential Infrastructure” on Saturday, March 28 to expand upon its guidance for states and municipalities to use in defining what business operations should be considered “essential.” Essential businesses are those that are allowed to remain open and many states have adopted the CISA federal guidance as their own standard when issuing shelter-in-place orders.

The CISA guidance document does not specifically identify printing operations as essential, but printing is included as it is critical to the supply chains of several identified essential businesses, include manufacturing, food and other packaging, medical devices, chemical production, and communication.

The most recent update clarified the importance of the supply chain and includes the following:

• Workers necessary for the manufacturing of metals (including steel and aluminum), industrial minerals, semiconductors, materials and products needed for medical supply chains, and for supply chains associated with transportation, energy, communications, information technology, food and agriculture, chemical manufacturing, nuclear facilities, wood products, commodities used as fuel for power generation facilities, the operation of dams, water and wastewater treatment, processing and reprocessing of solid waste, emergency services, and the defense industrial base. Additionally, workers needed to maintain the continuity of these manufacturing functions and associated supply chains, and workers necessary to maintain a manufacturing operation in warm standby.

• Workers necessary for the manufacturing of materials and products needed to manufacture medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE).

• Workers necessary for mining and production of critical minerals, materials and associated essential supply chains, and workers engaged in the manufacture and maintenance of equipment and other infrastructure necessary for mining production and distribution.

• Workers who produce or manufacture parts or equipment that supports continued operations for any essential services and increase in remote workforce (including computing and communication devices, semiconductors, and equipment such as security tools for Security Operations Centers (SOCs) or datacenters)

Printing operations are governed by the relevant state shelter in place executive orders. For more information, contact govtaffairs@sgia.org.
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