National Nurses United

NATIONAL I n december, more than 40 unions and other organizations signed National Nurses United's petition, along with more than 6,300 individu- als, to urge the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to adopt a permanent OSHA standard on Covid-19 in health care workplaces, building on the emergency temporary standard (ETS) adopted in June 2021 and set to expire on Dec. 21, 2021. As of press time, NNU was still waiting to learn the result. NNU,along with six other national unions, plus the AFL-CIO and North America's Building Trades Unions, several state and local unions, and dozens of public health, occupa- tional health and safety, and nonprofit organizations across the country signed the petition, which was submitted to OSHA on Dec. 16. "The Covid-19 health care ETS helped ensure safe working conditions for frontline health care workers by mandating optimal PPE and other protections, but now we need to make these lifesaving protections permanent," said NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN. "We must ensure that nurses and other health care workers can protect patients and protect themselves." Earlier in December, NNU issued a state- ment to demand that OSHA adopt a permanent Covid-19 standard. That state- ment followed the union's Nov. 3 letter to OSHA urging the agency to adopt a perma- nent standard. Registered nurses noted that this has been the first OSHA emergency temporary standard since 1983, and it was promul- gated thanks to unrelenting union nurse advocacy over the extensive opposition of the hospital industry and other corporate interests. Letting it expire without adopting a permanent standard would mean more transmission of the virus, more hospitaliza- tions, and more deaths from Covid-19. As of Dec. 16, 2021, more than 476 RNs have died of Covid-19, among 4,686 health care worker deaths overall. Since the data has not been collected in many places, a full accounting may never be known. To date, more than 1 million health care workers have been infected. "Nurses and other health care workers have fought on the front lines of this deadly pan- demic for two years," said NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN. "We haven't forgotten that in the beginning, many of our employers—without repercussions—told us to wear the same N95 respi- rator for a month. It was a major step forward when OSHA issued the Covid- 19 health care ETS in June, and it is imperative that OSHA maintain these lifesaving protec- tions by issuing a permanent Covid-19 standard to ensure nurses and other health care workers can protect our patients." "The pandemic is far from over," said Triunfo- Cortez. "We urge OSHA to make our protections permanent with no lapse in the enforcement of the temporary stan- dard before the permanent standard is issued." The Covid-19 health care ETS has meant mandatory requirements for health care employers on infection control protections, with penalties for those who violate those requirements. The adoption of a permanent OSHA standard on Covid-19 in health care workplaces should be built on current ETS requirements, the precautionary principle, and updated scientific knowledge of the virus. Such a standard should include: writ- ten infection control safety and implementation plans, developed in consul- tation with nonmanagement employees and their representatives; optimal personal pro- tective equipment against aerosol transmission of the virus, including respira- tory protection, eye protection, protective clothing, and gloves; protective require- ments on notification of health care employees exposed to Covid-19 in the work- place, and provision of pay and benefits for those who must take time off as a result of exposure or infection; as well as mandates on screening and testing of patients and vis- itors, isolation and dedicated Covid-19 units, 6 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 RNs urge OSHA to issue permanent Covid-19 standard NEWS BRIEFS DETAIL OF ART BY MICAH BAZANT, 2021. © NNU

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