The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has threatened to take over three states’ workplace safety programs because they failed to adopt emergency COVID-19 rules to protect healthcare workers, as reported by the Pew Charitable Trusts. According to labor advocates, OSHA’s admonition serves as a warning that resisting the forthcoming federal vaccine mandate for most healthcare workers and employees at large companies likewise could cost states their regulatory power over workplace safety. Jordan Barab, former OSHA deputy assistant secretary during the Obama administration state, “This is definitely an effort to send a message that OSHA is going to take any defiance of the next standard very seriously.”
OSHA tells 3 states to protect workers from COVID or forfeit authority
