OSHA Virus Emergency Regulation Not Needed, Labor Chief Says

Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia defended OSHA’s response to the coronavirus crisis and use of existing rules to protect workers instead of issuing a virus-specific regulation.

“We have the tools we need, and will use them if necessary,” said Scalia during a press briefing Thursday.

As of Thursday, OSHA has received about 2,400 complaints about workplace hazards and closed out about 1,400, Loren Sweatt, the deputy assistant secretary with oversight of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said at the briefing.

Sweatt said the total doesn’t include complaints filed with OSHA’s state counterparts.

Before Scalia became labor secretary, he spent ...