OSHA officials used the public hearing on a forthcoming permanent COVID-19 rule for healthcare facilities to press union representatives for more data and testimony to support the groups’ arguments that a stringent regulation is needed to protect workers, asking questions on workplace infections, cost management and a host of other issues.
Labor unions and safety groups are urging OSHA to reject employers’ calls to defer to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in any permanent COVID-19 safety standard for healthcare workers, saying that agency’s statutory mission and procedures are distinct from -- and less stringent than -- the OSH Act’s mandate to ensure safe workplaces.
Some employers are warning OSHA that any move to revive the emergency temporary standard (ETS) would be illegal while others are urging the agency to link any long-term COVID-19 safety standard for the healthcare sector with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance in order to ensure flexibility in response to new research on the disease.
A group of 31 House and Senate Democrats is stepping up pressure on EPA to consider climate change impacts in its upcoming risk management plan (RMP) facility safety rule, arguing that hazards such as more frequent extreme weather will act as a “threat multiplier” for chemical releases and other disasters the rule is meant to prevent or mitigate.
EPA is proposing to ban all ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos in its most aggressive use yet of the reformed TSCA, based on its Trump-era findings that the chemical poses “unreasonable risks” to workers in the chlor-alkali and other sectors as well the public, but industry is already arguing that the rule is based on a flawed understanding of OSHA safeguards.
As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit prepares to hear labor unions’ suit that would force OSHA to revive its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the healthcare sector, employers’ attorneys are now warning that the agency is advancing overly broad plans for a permanent rule based on the ETS.
OSHA is moving forward with a long-promised update to its lead exposure standard, based on what the agency says are “[r]ecent medical findings” showing that current blood lead level (BLL) limits are not stringent enough to avoid health hazards, just months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tightened its standard for high BLLs.
OSHA is formally proposing to revive Obama-era electronic recordkeeping and reporting mandates for employers’ injury and illness data, arguing that the Trump administration’s rollback of that rule in the name of worker privacy is no longer needed because “recent advancements in technology” will allow it to scrub public disclosures of any identifying details.
OSHA is formally seeking public input on its efforts to develop a permanent COVID-19 safety standard for healthcare facilities based on its defunct emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the sector, and is already floating a long list of potential changes that could broaden the rule’s scope or add more compliance flexibility for employers.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has quickly completed its review of what one source says will be OSHA’s call for public comments to inform a permanent COVID-19 protection rule for healthcare facilities based on its emergency temporary standard (ETS).