Dive Brief:
- The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will boost the number of inspections it performs at healthcare facilities that previously received pandemic-related complaints or citations now through June 9 to assess employers' ongoing efforts to mitigate future COVID-19 surges, according to a Monday press release.
- The agency said it's targeting hospitals and nursing homes that treat COVID-19 patients to ensure the facilities are complying with guidelines to reduce the spread of potential new variants and protect workers at heightened risk for infections.
- In December, OSHA withdrew the emergency temporary standard it implemented last summer making healthcare facilities follow rules around ventilation, personal protective equipment and other measures to reduce virus transmission. However, continued compliance with the ETS would satisfy "employers' related obligations under the General Duty Clause, Personal Protective Equipment and Respiratory Protection standards," the agency said.
Dive Insight:
As new COVID-19 cases continue trending downward and more areas relax masking rules, the workplace safety agency will ramp up investigations at healthcare facilities to make sure they're effectively prepared and able to prevent the rise of another variant.
OSHA will expand its presence in high-hazard healthcare facilities for three months starting Wednesday, initially focusing on efforts employers are taking to protect their workers from the virus. It will perform inspections at facilities where COVID-19 citations were previously issued and at facilities that received complaints but haven’t yet been investigated in person, according to the release.
Labor unions have fought hard since the start of the pandemic to get clearer, enforceable standards healthcare facilities must follow around virus transmission, and the ETS issued in June was a major win for those groups.
When the agency effectively dissolved it in December, those unions petitioned an appeals court to compel OSHA to quickly codify a permanent standard on occupational exposure in healthcare settings.
The ETS drew ire from provider groups, though, which pushed back, noting the rule was long and complex and carried a variety of exemptions for vaccinated employees. They also argued providers had largely been following most of the guidelines or made their best attempts to do so.
"We are using available tools while we finalize a healthcare standard," OSHA's Assistant Secretary of Labor Doug Parker said in the release. "We want to be ahead of any future events in healthcare."