OSHA pursues new safety rule for health-care facilities after previous efforts faltered, expired

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OSHA pursues new safety rule for health-care facilities after previous efforts faltered, expired

The process could take months, or even years, showing how hard it has been for the Labor Department to set up new rules related to the coronavirus.

By Eli Rosenberg
Yesterday at 6:00 a.m. EST

After previous attempts expired or were knocked down in federal court, the Labor Department is now working to create a permanent set of coronavirus safety rules for health-care facilities, trying to establish the only enforceable workplace safety rules two years after the virus began spreading through the United States. ... The agency’s effort, which is in an early stage, shows how much the Biden administration has struggled to stand up a set of policies aimed at protecting workers from an easily transmissible virus. Writing and implementing the rules could take months, or even years, because of pushback and court challenges. But White House officials believe the policies are important for safeguarding public health.

The policy would include things like mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing, and create new cleaning and disinfecting procedures. They could also require the notification of workers when they are exposed to infections among co-workers, under the threat of penalty. ... The policy, which officials hope would be permanent, would come after a temporary policy was allowed to lapse.

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Some safety advocates said they didn’t fully understand why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would pursue a permanent rule while letting the temporary rule expire in the meantime — which leaves a months or even years long gap in mandatory protections amid the ongoing pandemic. ... “It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” said Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official during the Obama years. “Their intention to issue a standard within six months is almost impossible. Their argument for withdrawing it didn’t make sense and now they find themselves in a pickle where no worker has protection. They’re in a mess that I think they’re having trouble figuring out how to get out of.”

The news emerged in a court filing that the agency issued while battling a lawsuit filed against it by a group of unions including National Nurses United, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations federation, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The unions charge that the agency unlawfully let the temporary health-care rule expire — and that legally it should remain in effect.

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By Eli Rosenberg
Eli Rosenberg covers work and labor for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2017 after a decade in New York, where he worked at the New York Times, the Daily News, and the Brooklyn Paper. He has covered misinformation campaigns, politics in the Trump era, immigration issues, and disasters across the country. Twitter https://twitter.com/emrosenberg