COVID-19 and health care workers: OSHA’s Doug Parker says permanent rule may be ready by fall

OSHA challenges

The hearing also included Thomas Costa, director of education, workforce and income security in the Government Accountability Office. Because no specific standard on COVID-19 exists, Costa said, OSHA faces “challenges applying existing standards to COVID cases” and sometimes has to rely on the General Duty Clause.

“However, violations of the General Duty Clause require substantial time to collect the documentation to support a citation,” he said. “Moreover, OSHA must issue a citation within six months of any violation, and OSHA sometimes didn’t know about possible violations for months, which limit OSHA’s ability to cite General Duty Clause violations.”

Costa noted that of the roughly 1,000 COVID-19-related violations that OSHA issued, only 25 cited the General Duty Clause. He also said, from February 2020 through this past December, that OSHA received more than 22,000 COVID-19-related reports and conducted more than 3,000 inspections related to COVID-19.

Costa also spoke on the challenges OSHA faces in getting employers who are required to submit injury and illness data to do so. He said around half of establishments didn’t fulfill their requirement from 2016 to 2018, “although reporting has increased in recent years.”

OSHA issued 27,000 postcard reminders in 2019, but got a 20% response rate.

“Without good data, [OSHA] may not be inspecting the most dangerous establishments,” Costa said. “Without more action, OSHA might not be prepared for the next crisis.”