Some OSHA stakeholders, especially in the worker advocacy community, are expressing deep concern that the Obama administration failed to take into account pressing needs for resources at the safety and health agency to tackle Ebola when President Obama recently sent to Congress a massive emergency funding request to confront the crisis.
The White House on Nov. 5 unveiled a multi-billion dollar fiscal 2015 emergency appropriations request to support Ebola efforts -- including adding to the national stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) to stop the spread of Ebola among health workers -- in a far-reaching spending plan that Congress will take up this week.
OSHA is preparing to issue a “matrix” regarding proper use and supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to shield workers from potential exposure to the Ebola virus in the event suspected or known cases of the highly infectious disease continue to appear in the United States, a key OSHA official working on Ebola concerns said Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ordered $2.7 million in personal protective equipment to increase Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) supplies to assist U.S. hospitals caring for Ebola patients, the agency said Friday (Nov. 7).
The Republican takeover of the Senate likely foretells huge new difficulties for OSHA's regulatory and enforcement agenda, with one prediction especially dire for the agency: that the GOP will almost certainly try to obstruct, or even dash altogether, longtime efforts to issue a rule clamping down on crystalline silica exposures, Washington sources say.
The Republican takeover of the Senate likely foretells huge new difficulties for OSHA's regulatory and enforcement agenda, with one prediction especially dire for the agency: that the GOP will almost certainly try to obstruct, or even dash altogether, longtime efforts to issue a rule clamping down on crystalline silica exposures, Washington sources say.
NIOSH chief John Howard this week outlined several major research priorities that he views as central to government – and industry-wide – efforts to protect workers from Ebola and other diseases, saying the need to match worker exposure levels to appropriate use of personal protective equipment, as well as to test methods for determining the amount of protection from a given type of PPE, are key research issues for infection control experts.
OSHA in attempting to issue an infectious disease rule that would apply in health care settings is asking small business representatives to consider a requirement that hospitals retain in-house occupational health experts or hire dedicated consultants to combat the potential spread of infectious agents among workers.
The Institute of Medicine will hold a public meeting Monday (Nov. 3) to discuss Ebola research that could be conducted under real-world conditions in order to provide public health officials and the public accurate information about the virus' transmission, mitigation of health risks, and appropriate measure to prevent the spread of the disease, the IOM announced.
OSHA in a tentative regulatory step toward fighting infectious disease transmission in health care settings floats the idea of written, highly specific control plans, which sources say is outside the traditional OSHA approach and akin to injury and illness prevention programs.