Enforcement

A new Office of Inspector General (OIG) report says OSHA took few steps to address possible COVID-19 infection dangers to workers at other federal agencies since 2020, including a finding that it “neither tracked nor analyzed” data that could have provided insight into pandemic-related hazards facing those agencies’ staffs or workers at large.

OSHA is starting a new enforcement initiative targeting employers who have failed to submit annual “Form 300A” summaries of their annual injury and illness data through the agency’s online disclosure tool, just as it is proposing to reestablish broad electronic reporting requirements that would expand the mandate to also cover records of individual incidents.

The White House is asking Congress to raise OSHA’s budget by nearly $90 million in fiscal year 2023, with more than half of those funds earmarked for enforcement just as the agency is unveiling a new strategic plan calling for a 25 percent increase in workplace health and safety inspections by the end of the calendar year.

OSHA is reversing its Trump-era arguments that prompted a federal district court to narrow the application of a little-used OSH Act provision allowing workers to sue the agency to force action on an “imminent” workplace danger, after former officials said the precedent could undermine enforcement more broadly.

OSHA has announced a three-month initiative that will escalate its follow-up inspections of hospitals and other skilled nursing facilities that have prior pandemic-related citations or complaints, as the agency seeks to develop a permanent COVID-19 standard for the sector in the coming months.

President Joe Biden is directing OSHA to update guidance to employers on how to protect workers from COVID-19 as part of his newly announced plan to transition the country from a pandemic to an endemic approach to combating the virus, prompting fresh questions about how OSHA’s COVID-19 enforcement policies could shift in the coming weeks.

Members of an OSHA advisory panel are expressing support for the agency’s preliminary plans to begin incorporating broad risk-based safety frameworks in its guidance documents and rulemakings, but are cautioning officials to first conduct outreach to inform employers about the new model before developing enforcement materials.

OSHA head Doug Parker says the agency is not formally withdrawing its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the healthcare sector but will not enforce the rule while a union-led lawsuit plays out, spurring outrage from labor advocates who are urging the agency to ramp up protections and implement a permanent standard for healthcare workers.

Employers’ attorneys say OSHA’s recent COVID-19 enforcement action against an Ohio auto parts supplier includes several suggested mitigation steps that “should be gravely concerning to employers,” arguing that many safeguards the agency is saying are necessary to avoid citations are either impractical or outside its OSH Act authority to require.

Attorneys are cautioning employers to maintain workplace COVID-19 protections including masking and social-distancing requirements despite states’ moves to loosen or drop their pandemic regulations, saying federal policy on the pandemic has become a “moving target” with enforcement still likely in response to larger outbreaks.