Virginia to create first pandemic workplace safety mandates in nation, as Trump labor agency ...
Source: Washington Post
Virginia to create first pandemic workplace safety mandates in nation, as Trump labor agency sits on sidelines
The governor’s office said the rules were prompted in large part by the lack of enforcement by the federal agency tasked with upholding workplace safety, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
By Eli Rosenberg
June 24, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
The state of Virginia has proposed its own set of coronavirus-era safety rules that companies must implement to protect workers from infection — a first in the country and a potential way forward for other states in the face of federal inaction.
The temporary emergency safety rules were drafted by the state’s Department of Labor and Industry, under direction from Gov. Ralph Northam (D) in late May and will be voted on by the state’s 14-member health and safety board on Wednesday.
The governor’s office said the rules were prompted in large part by the lack of enforcement from the federal agency tasked with upholding workplace safety, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA has issued only one citation in response to more than 4,000 coronavirus-related complaints, a jarring record that workplace advocates and former OSHA officials have criticized in recent weeks as a neglect of the agency’s duties.
"Millions of workers are terrified of going into jobs every day where they are not adequately protected from the coronavirus,” said David Michaels, a former OSHA head who served during the Obama administration. “Thousands of workers have complained to OSHA, and OSHA has told them they’re on their own. . . . State governments are stepping into the void.”
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Eli Rosenberg
Eli Rosenberg covers work and labor for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 2017 after a decade in New York, where he worked at the New York Times, the Daily News, and the Brooklyn Paper. He has covered misinformation campaigns, politics in the Trump era, immigration issues, and disasters across the country. Follow https://twitter.com/emrosenberg
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/24/virginia-safety-rules-covid/
When Pres. Carter's Council of Economic Advisors told OSHA head Eula Bingham to make textile workers wear respirators instead of requiring the mills to clean the air, Eula threatened to resign. She won.
Who has that courage now?
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What should we be doing and why haven’t we done it?
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I'm not surprised. I've worked at several factories where the complainers of VALID health concerns were fired after contacting OSHA, and nothing happened to the company.
Not to mention some coworkers who didn't like the complainers either, worried they could affect their precious low-playing jobs if the company got in trouble.
Good for Virginia! 
