The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be paying closer attention to home care businesses following a governmental COVID-19 report released Thursday.
In the report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) expresses concerns about federal oversight of COVID-related worker safety and health standards. It calls for OSHA to implement oversight processes for COVID-19 safety standards and to ensure that its data system includes comprehensive information on enforcement methods.
The report also raises concerns regarding OSHA data, which the report says does not include comprehensive information on workplace exposure to COVID-19. For example, OSHA does not receive employer reports of all work-related hospitalizations related to COVID-19. Employers may also face challenges determining whether COVID-19 hospitalizations or fatalities are work-related because of COVID-19’s incubation period and the difficulties in tracking the source of exposure.
More enforcement by OSHA would represent a change of direction for the agency, which had been more relaxed in its oversight during the Trump administration.
