Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced a full committee hearing Nov. 6 in Washington on on the U.S. government response to the Ebola outbreak. The Senate hearing follows a similar probe last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On the House side, the Oversight Committee will hold a hearing Friday (Oct. 24), despite the congressional recess, examining whether the government is adequately training and equipping American health care workers and military personnel who treat patients infected with the deadly virus.

Mikulski's move to get the appropriations panel more directly involved in understanding the government-wide response comes shortly after Congress approved a spending package that includes devoting funds at the behest of the Obama administration to fighting the spread of Ebola, particularly in West Africa (see related document).

The National Nurses Union said the president's decision to tap a White House Ebola czar falls short unless the administration gives the czar power to cut off Medicare and Medicaid funds at hospitals that don't meet the highest uniform, national workplace safety standards.

Worldwide concern over outbreaks of Ebola disease has hit home in the U.S. health care sector as a nurse in Dallas who cared for a now-deceased patient with the virus has contracted the disease, despite use of full personal protective equipment (PPE), putting new pressure on employers to institute comprehensive infection control programs that include site-specific training of employees.

Nurses and their supporters across the United States are voicing a variety of concerns about the U.S. health care sector's readiness to provide them with adequate health protections as cases of Ebola infection begin sprouting up outside the disease-ravaged region of West Africa, including a patient in Dallas and most recently a nurse in Spain -- with ensuring adequate protective gear a key priority of advocates.

Worker safety advocates in New York have issued a new report sharply critical of working conditions for contract employees within the city's two major airports, ranging from potential bloodborne pathogen exposure to excessive noise levels, and say workers' health concerns about bodily fluid exposures are heightened now that suspected cases of Ebola disease have apparently gone through the U.S. aviation system.

Members of the Senate health and appropriations panels raised concerns about the lack of clear coordination among the slew of federal health agencies working to address the African Ebola outbreak, while backing the Obama administration's request for an additional $88 million to bolster U.S. efforts to tamp down the public health problem.

The Health and Human Services Department has issued wide-ranging guidance on ways to protect U.S. health care workers from potential Ebola exposure that suggests using respirators in certain situations -- a document that worker advocates generally praise for its intense focus on correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

OSHA rolled out final injury reporting regulations Thursday that give the agency broader reach in collecting workplace injury data -- including one option for employers to file electronic reports -- with new requirements on notifying OSHA of amputations, hospital stays of one or more employees, and loss of a worker's eye, along with a sweeping update to work site classification codes for injury logs.

A short-term continuing resolution, introduced by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) Tuesday (Sept. 9), incorporates new provisions to address the Ebola crisis, including additional funding to accelerate HHS research on therapies, and funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's response to the outbreak in Africa.

The House Ebola rider comes as the Senate health and Appropriations committees gear up to hold a joint hearing next Tuesday (Sept. 16) to explore the U.S. role in the global Ebola public health threat.

Rogers' short-term spending bill would provide HHS' Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund with $58 million to support the acceleration of research on Ebola countermeasures and therapies. It also would set aside $30 million to support CDC's response to the African outbreak.

The legislation would continue funding for government programs at the current annual cap rate of $1.012 trillion until Dec. 11, or until Congress approves appropriations legislation for 2015.

“This bill is free of controversial riders, maintains current levels, and does not seek to change existing federal policies,” said Rogers in a statement. “However, this is a temporary, imperfect measure that does not reflect the changing needs of the nation or new budget priorities.”

OSHA regulatory experts who are closely watching the agency's gradual progress on a complex new rule to tamp down on worker exposures to crystalline silica think it could take nine months to a year or even longer for OSHA to finish drafting and send to the White House budget office a final rule -- and the effort could stretch even to the last days of President Obama's term, informed sources tell Inside OSHA Online.