Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) today joined a group of colleagues in sending a letter to President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Martin Walsh calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) to continue and make permanent the emergency COVID-19 protections for health care workers as the Omicron variant continues to ravage the country. In New Jersey, there are more than 480,000 health care workers according to data from the NJ Department of Labor.
The letter, supported by major labor groups such as the AFL-CIO, SEIU, SEIU Local 32BJ, and the National Nurses United, also addresses OSHA’s announcement at the end of 2021 that it would allow the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to lapse, despite the fact that health care workers still face serious safety challenges and workplace risks. Today, more than 120,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide, further straining overworked health care workers and hospitals facing severe staffing shortages. Recent reporting shows that overworked doctors, nurses, and staff have been forced to continue working in unsafe conditions and are concerned for their health and safety.
“OSHA’s June 21 ETS protected health care workers, who have shouldered the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency temporary standard, which requires employers to implement plans to identify and control COVID-19 hazards in the workplace, helped to ensure that workers had access to effective personal protective equipment (PPE) and adequate ventilation systems, and ensured workers were notified of workplace exposures to COVID-19, providing critical protections against the risks frontline health care workers face every day in their workplaces,” wrote the Senators to President Biden and Secretary Walsh.
“We are writing to urge you to move forward with a permanent, enforceable standard that would require employers to protect workers in health care settings and to keep the emergency protections in place until a permanent standard is issued, which should be accomplished as expeditiously as possible. Given the emergence and rapid spread of the Omicron variant, health care workers need to retain strong, enforceable protections now; these protections cannot lapse,” the Senators continued.
In February, Sen. Menendez and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced bipartisan legislation creating an independent, non-partisan commission, closely modeled after the 9/11 Commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, to assess the nation’s pandemic preparedness and response, and provide recommendations to improve our country’s readiness for future public health crises. The National Coronavirus Commission Act of 2021 builds upon legislation Sens. Menendez and Collins introduced in the last Congress.
Joining Sens. Menendez and Booker in sending the letter are Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
A copy of the full letter can be found HERE.
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