The Occupational Health and Safety Administration will hold a virtual hearing April 27 about developing a final standard to protect healthcare and healthcare support service workers from workplace exposure to the COVID-19 virus.
OSHA adopted a healthcare emergency temporary standard in June, requiring long-term care and other healthcare workplaces to conduct hazard assessments and have written plans in place to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. The agency, however, withdrew portions of the standard in December because the agency hadn’t met a deadline to enact a permanent rule. Since February, OSHA said, it has been “working expeditiously” to issue a final standard.
The agency is reopening the rule-making record to allow for new data and comments on topics, including:
- alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for healthcare infection control procedures,
- additional flexibility for employers,
- removal of scope exemptions,
- tailoring controls to address interactions with people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19,
- employer support for employees who wish to be vaccinated,
- limited coverage of construction activities in healthcare settings,
- COVID-19 record-keeping and reporting provisions,
- triggering requirements based on community transmission levels,
- the potential evolution of SARS-CoV-2 into a second novel strain, and
- the health effects and risk of COVID-19 since the temporary emergency standard was issued.
Future COVID variants could be genetically different enough to be designated as its own novel coronavirus strain, the notice said. OSHA wants feedback on whether this final COVID-19 standard should apply to all related strains of the virus.
The hearing could continue for several days, according to the agency. Everyone is welcome to weigh in on the COVID-19 standard, but a notice of intention to appear must be submitted in advance. OSHA also is soliciting written comments on a list of potential changes it could make between the temporary emergency standard and the final rule. The comment period opens today and runs through April 22.
