President’s Briefing: Union Calls on OSHA to Restore COVID Safety Standards for Health Care Workers
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January 19, 2022To further improve communication lines and respond to the concerns between the National VA Council and you, our members, I have established a National VA Council Briefing. This NVAC Briefing will bring you the latest news and developments within DVA and provide you with the current status of issues this Council is currently addressing. This NVAC Briefing will significantly enhance how we communicate and how we share new information, keeping you better informed.
To further improve communication lines and respond to the concerns between the National VA Council and you, our members, I have established a National VA Council Briefing. This NVAC Briefing will bring you the latest news and developments within DVA and provide you with the current status of issues this Council is currently addressing. This NVAC Briefing will significantly enhance how we communicate and how we share new information, keeping you better informed.
Alma L. Lee
National VA Council, President
Union Calls on OSHA to Restore COVID Safety Standards for Health Care Workers
The workplace safety agency announced last week that it was partially withdrawing its emergency temporary standard for health care workers because it legally can only be in place for six months. Erich Wagner | January 4, 2022
The nation’s largest federal employee union urged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to reconsider its decision to rescind part of its temporary COVID-19 workplace safety standards for health care workers, although the agency said that move was required by law.
Last week, OSHA announced that it was partially rescinding its emergency temporary standard for health care workers that it had implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic last June. At the root of the issue is that the law governing the agency only allows for emergency temporary standards to be in place for six months, and a permanent set of regulations governing workplace safety amid an outbreak of infectious disease is not yet ready to be implemented, the agency said.
“OSHA announces today that it intends to continue to work expeditiously to issue a final standard that will protect health care workers from COVID-19 hazards, and will do so as it also considers its broader infectious disease rulemaking,” the agency wrote. “However, given that OSHA anticipates a final rule cannot be completed in a timeframe approaching the one contemplated by the OSH Act, OSHA also announces today that it is withdrawing the non-recordkeeping portions of the health care [emergency temporary standard].”
The temporary health standard required health care providers to screen all patients for COVID-19; mandated that policies and procedures comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines; and required face masks and other personal protective equipment and social distancing, along with physical requirements like barriers at work stations and improvements to HVAC systems. It also required employers to provide paid leave for employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, recover from any side effects as well as if they were exposed to or infected with the virus.
The recordkeeping requirements of the emergency temporary standard will remain in place.
Read the full article from Government Executive here Union Calls for Safety Standards to be Restored
