OSHA’s enforcement activities did not sufficiently protect workers from COVID-19 health hazards, according to an audit of the agency’s pandemic response conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG). From OSHA’s lack of citations to enforce its standard for recording and reporting occupational injuries and illnesses during COVID-19 inspections, as well as incomplete information on COVID-19 infection rates at work sites, OIG concluded that “there is a heightened risk that workers suffered unnecessary exposure to the virus.” The audit, which was released Oct. 31, also found that 20 percent of a sample of COVID-19 inspections conducted from February 2020 through January 2021 were closed by OSHA without the agency ensuring that employers had demonstrated the mitigation of alleged health hazards. “These issues occurred because OSHA had not established controls to ensure citations were issued or to document the rationale, does not require employers to report all COVID-19 cases among workers, and does not have a tool to ensure it receives and reviews all requested documentation prior to closing inspections,” the OIG report states. The report outlines five recommendations that OIG says would improve OSHA’s enforcement activities and help protect workers from pandemic health hazards. OIG recommends that OSHA provide additional training to compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) to enforce its recording and reporting standard for fatalities; update its guidance or policies to include supervisory review of files prior to closing inspections to ensure that the files “contain adequate support for the reasons regarding citation issuance decisions”; and develop a plan regarding work site case data for future pandemics that involves collaboration with other agencies to improve OSHA’s response and enforcement actions. OIG’s report also recommends that OSHA require employers to notify all employees of all known positive cases of infectious diseases at work sites as part of its rulemaking on infectious diseases. The report’s final recommendation is for OSHA to develop and implement a tracking tool intended to ensure that the agency receives and reviews all items requested by CSHOs during inspections. In its response to the report, OSHA disagrees with two of OIG’s recommendations. The agency explains that, because the planned scope of its infectious disease rule is limited to the healthcare and social assistance sectors, a rule covering all employers would essentially “be a whole new rulemaking and significantly slow” the rulemaking process for infectious diseases, potentially leaving healthcare and social assistance workers at risk of pandemic-related hazards, according to OSHA. The agency also disagrees with OIG’s recommendation for a tracking tool, clarifying that an alleged hazard does not mean that a hazard or violation exists. “If OSHA does not issue a citation, then there is no requirement for an employer to provide documentation of hazard abatement to OSHA,” the agency explains. “[G]iven that the audit has not shown the lack of a tracking system has a material impact on inspection effectiveness, OSHA is not persuaded it should prioritize creating and mandating use of a uniform tracking tool for all investigatory documentation requests.” A previous OIG audit issued in February 2021 found that a surge of work site complaints to OSHA combined with reduced and mostly remote inspections resulted in increased risk to U.S. workers’ safety (PDF). The Oct. 31 report is available on OIG’s website (PDF).

NIOSH plans to publish an updated version of its Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards in 2023, the agency announced in the November 2022 issue of its e-newsletter. The publication provides general industrial hygiene information for nearly 700 chemicals and is intended to inform workers, employers, and occupational health professionals about workplace chemicals and their hazards. According to NIOSH, the new edition will include expanded signs and symptoms of exposure, updated respirator recommendations, and added airborne concentration measurement methods. The agency also plans to include NIOSH skin notations, descriptions of how chemical protective clothing and decontamination recommendations were developed, and the most recent NIOSH Chemical Carcinogen Policy, which describes how the agency classifies chemicals as carcinogens, identifies control levels, and addresses analytical feasibility. The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards was first published in 1978 and is available on the NIOSH website.

In October, OSHA launched a local emphasis program intended to protect food processing workers in Illinois and Ohio, where food manufacturing injury rates “were consistently elevated” during 2019–2020, according to the agency. Compared to manufacturers in the private sector, food production workers in Ohio had a nearly 57 percent higher rate of amputations and a 16 percent higher rate of fractures, while Illinois food production workers experienced a nearly 29 percent higher rate of amputations and a 14 percent higher rate of fractures. “Between 2016 and 2020, OSHA investigated multiple fatalities, along with dozens of workers suffering amputations, fractures and crushed hands or fingers,” an agency press release explains. “Investigators often determined that the employers commonly failed to control hazardous energy or allowed workers to operate machines without adequate guarding.” The local emphasis program (PDF) encourages employers to address risks associated with occupational exposure to machine hazards during production activities, and off-shift sanitation, service, and maintenance tasks.