November 2, 2022

The Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General (IG) released a report which found that OSHA’s enforcement activities did not sufficiently protect workers from COVID-19 health hazards. In particular, the IG report said that OSHA: (1) did not issue citations to enforce the standard for recording and reporting occupational injuries and illnesses in 15% of sampled fatality inspections; (2) lacks complete information on COVID-19 infection rates at worksites; and (3) closed inspections without ensuring it received and reviewed all items requested from employers to demonstrate alleged COVID-19 health hazards had been mitigated.

The report said that 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 IG made five recommendations to OSHA following the report, including to: (1) provide additional training to OSHA Certified Safety and Health Officials (CSHOs) to enforce the recording and reporting standards for fatalities; (2) update guidance or policy to include supervisory review of inspection files to ensure they contain adequate support for the reasons regarding citation issuance decisions before closing inspections; (3) develop a plan for a future pandemic or epidemic to collaborate with external agencies on worksite case data and to use this data to maximize rapid response and enforcement actions in worksites; (4) require employers, as part of OSHA’s rulemaking on infectious disease, to notify all employees of all known positive cases of infectious disease at the worksite; and (5) develop and implement a tracking tool to ensure OSHA receives and reviews all items CSHOs request during inspections to ensure alleged hazards have been mitigated.

In response, OSHA agreed with three of the five recommendations. Specifically, OSHA agreed to include additional training to CSHOs and to update guidance or policy to include supervisory review of inspection files to ensure they contain adequate support for the reasons regarding citation issuance decisions before closing inspections. While OSHA also agreed it would be beneficial to have access to worksite case data, management officials said they would need to explore the feasibility of this recommendation because they need to determine (a) if the specific infectious disease case data is in a form to allow for analysis and prioritization, (b) the appropriate timeline for effective.

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