Healthcare Unions and Other Organizations Urging OSHA to Make COVID Protocols Permanent
January 12, 2022
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers and labor unions have been fighting for adequate protection from contracting the virus. In the latest battle, healthcare labor union National Nurses United (NNU) organized a petition for continued COVID-19 protections for healthcare workers throughout the country.
In December 2021, more than 6,400 healthcare workers—over 40 organizations and labor unions representing more than 14 million people—signed and delivered the petition urging the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to make the Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) permanent.
The petition was delivered only a few days before the standard was set to expire on December 21, 2021. OSHA put the emergency standard into place in June 2021 when they determined existing regulations could not adequately protect health workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency standard includes vital personal protective equipment (PPE) such as N95 masks. The emergency standard applies to all workers in a healthcare facility that treats suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients. This includes hospital, home health care, and nursing home staff. The standard also applies to first responders.
According to the OSHA Fact Sheet, the standard requires employers to conduct hazard assessments, limit employees present, keep employees six feet apart, install solid barriers where employees are not separated by six feet, and screen employees before each work day and shift, among other regulations. It also provides for reasonable time and paid leave for vaccinations and, in some cases, pay for employees who were removed due to COVID-19 infection.
NNU, the largest healthcare labor union for registered nurses in the United States, spearheaded the petition, which calls on OSHA to adopt a permanent standard on COVID-19 in healthcare workplaces. The petition cites “unfettered, widespread transmission” and Omicron as reasons for adopting a permanent standard, warning that letting the standard expire would mean “more transmission of the virus, more hospitalizations, and more deaths from COVID-19.”
The NNU recommended that the permanent standard require:
- Healthcare employers to have written infection control safety and implementation plans
- Nurses and other workers exposed to COVID-19 to have optimal PPE against aerosol transmission of the virus
- Notification of healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace
- Pay and benefits for those who must take time off due to exposure or infection
- Mandated screening and testing of patients and visitors, isolation, mask wearing, physical distancing, and proper ventilation in the workplace
According to a statement released by the NNU, more than 476 registered nurses and almost 5,000 healthcare workers have died from COVID-19. Over 1 million healthcare workers have been infected.
The NNU has also cited an issue with the CDC’s decision to shorten the isolation period for nurses and other healthcare workers who have tested positive for COVID-19. The recommended quarantine period is now seven days instead of ten, and quarantine is no longer required for vaccinated and boosted healthcare workers.
On December 28, 2021, the NNU released a statement saying that healthcare worker protections should not be discontinued with the Omicron variant rapidly spreading in the United States and that schools should offer remote learning during the current surge.