US Department of Labor announces enforcement, effort for focused inspections in hospitals, nursing care facilities treating COVID-19 patients

| Posted on |

WASHINGTON – For two years, millions of the nation’s healthcare workers have been battling the coronavirus. Many have endangered themselves as they care for those who contract COVID-19 while working in high-risk settings that expose themselves and their families.

As the nation moves to the next phase of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Labor recognizes the need to prepare for any new variants that may emerge and provide healthcare workers the protections they deserve.

The Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced an enforcement memorandum for a short-term increase in highly focused inspections directed at hospitals and skilled nursing care facilities that treat or handle COVID-19 patients.

OSHA’s goal is to expand its presence to ensure continued mitigation to control the spread of COVID-19 and future variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and protect the health and safety of healthcare workers at heightened risk for contracting the virus.

“We are using available tools while we finalize a healthcare standard,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “We want to be ahead of any future events in healthcare.”

The agency will be initiating focused inspections to emphasize monitoring for current and future readiness to protect workers from COVID-19. Follow-up inspections will be conducted at sites that were previously issued citations, as well as where complaints were received but the agency did not conduct in-person inspections.

OSHA intends to expand its presence in targeted high-hazard healthcare facilities during a three-month period from March 9, 2022 to June 9, 2022. Through this focused enforcement initiative, the agency will verify and assess hospital and skilled nursing care employers’ compliance actions taken, including their readiness to address any ongoing or future COVID-19 surges.

This initiative supplements OSHA’s targeted enforcement under the Revised COVID-19 National Emphasis Program [DIR 2021-03 (CPL 03)] by conducting focused follow-up and monitoring inspections of previously inspected or investigated hospitals and skilled nursing care facilities within four North American Industry Classification System codes listed in the memorandum where COVID-19 citations or Hazard Alert Letters were issued, including remote-only inspections where COVID-19-related citations were issued.

This initiative and the revised COVID-19 National Emphasis Program would comprise 15 percent of OSHA’s enforcement activity.

On Dec. 27, 2021, OSHA announced its decision to withdraw the non-recordkeeping portions of the Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard. The agency will accept continued compliance with the Healthcare ETS as satisfying employers’ related obligations under the General Duty Clause, Personal Protective Equipment and Respiratory Protection standards.

OSHA has continually conducted outreach at the national, regional, and area office levels throughout the duration of the pandemic outbreak. Visit the agency’s Coronavirus Disease webpage for more information and resources on keeping workers safe from COVID-19.

Healthcare facilities across the country have been applying key components of the Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard successfully to protect the health and safety of their employees. OSHA would like to learn more about these successful programs. If you would like to share your success stories, please send an email to Healthcaresafety@dol.gov.

Source: https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/trade/03072022-0

24 Comments

  • Hey very nice site!! Guy .. Excellent .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally…I’m satisfied to search out numerous useful information right here in the put up, we’d like develop extra strategies on this regard, thank you for sharing.

  • I’d have to examine with you here. Which is not one thing I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a post that may make folks think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to comment!

  • Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything. However think about if you added some great images or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and videos, this website could definitely be one of the very best in its niche. Great blog!

  • Maintenant, la technologie de positionnement est largement utilisée. De nombreuses voitures et téléphones portables ont des fonctions de positionnement, et il existe également de nombreuses applications de positionnement. Lorsque votre téléphone est perdu, vous pouvez utiliser ces outils pour lancer rapidement des demandes de localisation. Comprendre comment localiser l’emplacement du téléphone, comment localiser le téléphone après sa perte?

  • Vous pouvez également personnaliser la surveillance de certaines applications, et il commencera immédiatement à capturer régulièrement des instantanés de l’écran du téléphone.

  • Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.

  • Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was searching for! “Washington is the only place where sound travels faster than light.” by C. V. R. Thompson.

  • Heya are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you require any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  • An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!

  • Wonderful site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thanks for your effort!

  • You can definitely see your enthusiasm within the paintings you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. At all times follow your heart. “There are only two industries that refer to their customers as users.” by Edward Tufte.

  • Wow, wonderful blog structure! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?

    you make running a blog glance easy. The total look of your website
    is excellent, let alone the content material! You can see similar here sklep internetowy

  • I do agree with all the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They’re really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too short for starters. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.

  • I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?

  • Howdy very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds alsoKI’m glad to seek out so many useful info right here within the post, we’d like work out more strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content