OSHA Urged to Counter Coronavirus With Infectious-Disease Rule

The coronavirus threat makes it urgent that the federal worker safety agency develop a rule to protect workers from infectious diseases, a House leader says.

“We are very concerned that OSHA’s Infectious Diseases standard continues to languish on the agency’s ‘Long-Term Actions’ since being placed on the regulatory agenda almost ten years ago (May 2010),” Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, told Labor Department Secretary Eugene Scalia in a Jan. 30 letter.

Scott said the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration should take the rulemaking project (RIN:1218-AC46) out of the ...