Transcripts For CSPAN2 Occupational Safety Health Administration Head Testifies On Worker... 20240712

Good morning. The subcommittee will come to order. Welcome everyone. A quorum is present and i know for the subcommittee and from florida and michigan and texas and tennessee michiga michigan, kentucky, wisconsi michigan, kentucky, wisconsin,. Pennsylvania, mr. Johnson of south dakota and pennsylvania they all have committed to participate in todays hearing that the questions will only come after the subcommittee of workforce protections on both sides of the aisle are present either in person or via remote participation due to House Resolution 965 and the accompanying regulations and had an opportunity to question the witnesses the subcommittee is meeting today for a hearing on examining the federal governments actions to protect workers from covid19 both in the hearing room and for those members participating remotely you will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid any unnecessary background noise members will be responsible for and muting themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they seek recognition a rollcall is not necessary to establish a quorum conducted remotely or with remote participants participation is when there is the proceeding with remote participation the clerk will call the role for who was present at the start of the proceeding at this time i asked the clerk to call the role. [roll call] [roll call] let me remind all of the Committee Members please mute your microphone. Thank you. Rule seven see Opening Statement limited to the chair and the Ranking Member will hear from our witnesses to provide all members with adequate time to ask questions i recognize myself for the presence of making an Opening Statement. Today subcommittee hearing will explain the performance of the federal government to protect worker safety during the covid19 pandemic thank you to osha Deputy Assistant secretary and osha director howard for joining us today the covid19 pandemic has resulted in the workers safety crisis in the osha 50 year history nothing compares the past four months more than 62000 Healthcare Workers have risk their lives without protective equipment and have been diagnosed with covid19 and 291 have died. This is an underestimat underestimate, according to cdc these numbers are a mere fraction of the true toll to the absence of reporting of 27 states, new york city and the district of columbia. As we know infection outbreaks are not limited to Healthcare Facilities more than 17000 Meat Processing workers have been infected and estimated died 60 percent of employees tested positive at an iowa tyson plant one closed after hundreds fell ill although the plant promise to test every worker before reopening there were so many positive cases that it stopped testing and reopened anyway longtime care facilities Grocery Stores and Transportation Systems and warehouses have all experienced deadly outbreaks earlier this month the cdc reported 2770 infections and 15 deaths among staff and correctional and detention facilities late january through late april 36 percent of all infections at correctional facilities was suffered by staff at least six employees or one warehouse in new york died from covid19 129 new York City Transit workers died of the virus 1424 veterans administrations employees have been diagnosed and 31 have died. From the 2400 postal workers tested positive in six have died from covid related illnesses ups is facing an outbreak of 36 cases at its facility in tucson. As we will discuss today we dont really know because this nation has no system for collecting data on covid19 in the workplace employers are not obligated to publicly report thes infections from Government Agencies that refuse to make this information public to adverse publicity leaving the workers in public unaware with the risks they are facing we cannot lose sight of the fact this is largely a tragedy inflicted on our nation of essential workers. People who dont have a choice whether they have to go to work people who dont have a choice many are on the front lines low income workers and disproportionately people of color who dont have the luxury to work from home covid19 is a Community Tragedy Iowa Nebraska south dakota coronavirus cases represent about 29 percent of the states total cases respectively to the environmental working groups my home state of North Carolina leads the nation with a number of meat packing plants facing an outbreak the state department of hhs reporting at least 23 plants have operated with more than 1300 worker infections. Also the agency that this has passed to protect workers has largely been in visible failing to develop the necessary tools to combat the pandemic and to use the tools that it has and instead principally to issue a press release this hearing will focus on why that is and for the inaction. Osha still has not developed any enforceable standards that can protect workers from the airborne transmission of the coronavirus. And then those standards with respirators and ppe are in adequate and unused while the cdc and prevention can be useful and nonbinding and although osha says it uses the Enforcement Authority to protect workers its own data shows the majority of infections are conducted only after workers have died. Osha has complaint infections less than 1 percent of those filed while the secretary of labor says it does not need an emergency because osha already has the tools that it needs to enforce guidelines but the embarrassing truth is osha has not issued a single citation under the general duty clause to enforce that guidance. Not once. This crisis was clearly foreseeable and osha was warned it was clear after the swine flu in the texas disease standard was needed requiring employers and the workplace and from the beginning of the Trump Administration and that the standard was relegated to the longtime regulatory agenda where it languishes today january 1 and i joined the chairman on calling on osha to put the Infectious Disease standard back on the agenda we also urged osha to issue compliance and an emergency standard if the situation deteriorated. They were just five confirmed infections in the us at the time hearing nothing back on mah we wrote osha again how hundreds of Healthcare Workers have been exposed and stated the obvious that osha urgently needed to issue a Emergency Temporary Standard midmarch they rejected on the grounds the Healthcare Industry fully understands the gravity of the situation in the state on and taking the appropriate steps to protect workers and in april with more than 720,000 infections nationwide were finally issued enforcement guidance only covering the healthcare sector and as they continue to face risks of infection illnesses and death and then to issue temporary standards from exposure to coronavirus and to provide the Emergency Temporary Standard to determine employees are in a grave danger that this standard is necessary to protect employees from such a danger like this pandemic is the exact reason in this exist and osha continues to sit on the sidelines. My question to secretary of labor with thousands of workplace infections and deaths to take meaningful action has sent a clear message to workers across the country they are on their own. On friday may 15 the house passed a bill hr 6800 to include covid19 every Worker Protection act introduced by chairman scott and myself to direct ish osha to have an Emergency Temporary Standard for seven days to protect workers and hospitals and Retail Stores restaurants and offices and shipyards and other workplaces where a person can face risk of exposure and also prohibits employers from retaliating as we begin to reopen more are at risk of infection and if the reopening drives up infection rates they could be called to reinstate to do further damage to the economy the only conclusion i can draw is the response is more about politics and modern science and the should not be ideological notions about repealing to regulations and a new one that is created to explore and hopefully answer why there has been a lack of political will and no one is even tracking the number of workers who are getting sick and dying. Finally i feel the need to respond to two items in this testimony. First, because of the lawsuit and refusing to answer any questions about the Emergency Temporary Standard and i want to note for the record there is no legal basis and its purely a political statement. And this testimony that says the failure to issue emergency standard no one has more respect from the dedicated men and women and the staff from the hard work they do every do they and this committee as evidenced and the opposition with rollback of worker safety protection and those spacing from covid19 with professional staff but due to the unfortunate for oshas Political Leadership and now to the Ranking Member for his Opening Statement. Let me state for the record as the chairwoman is here physically present in the room the chairman of the full committee is physically present and there are 15 members of this committee nine republicans and six democrats. It is a safe environment as you can socially distance since they decided at the 11th hour to unilaterally pull off last weeks hearing my republican colleagues and i are ready to get the important work what they are doing to combat covid19 and we are here to do so today. It is unfortunate democrats decide to play politics on issues they assert is a top priority. The covid19 pandemic is an extraordinary time for all americans. Many coming out mandatory stayathome orders after two months or more people are returning to work in a new environment with the disease still relatively new and we have much to learn it affects different people in different ways many people who test positive have symptoms but a small percentage get very ill and some of them unfortunately passed away. Those to become very ill are over 65 to make up 80 percent of all deaths and those of Underlying Health conditions as listed by the cdc. And with the different types of jobs an Office Worker who doesnt interact faces a much lower risk than a nurse in the icu. And i say this to make a point about the difficulty coming up with a reliable single standard for Workplace Safety. And covid19 specifically. How did osha complex safety and Health Issues in the past . And with h1n1 influenza and osha did not issue a new standard but instead enforced existing standards and guidance that was under the general duty clause. Let me say that again. Under three separate diseases osha did not issue a standard they issued guidelines and relied upon those to enforce the general duty clause the acting assistant secretary during h1n1 which the chairwoman referred to a man named jordan in may 2009 and said osha created guidance with the appropriate work practices and the pandemic and also because safety risk at certain workplaces focus the direct efforts in a high risk exposure categories. And then to categorize workers rest to demonstrate only a small portion have the highest exposure risk level. And to specifically reference standards are in place and then the general duty clause to ensure that employers follow the practices that they are necessary to protect workers health. Included president obamas assessment as being cause for the concern but not panic what has osha done with covid19 . And then to issue detailed guidelines for high risk workplaces to categorize a workers risk and ppe and respirators sanitation and others as well as the obligations under the general duty clause for safe and healthy workplace. In addition osha and the cdc have guidance and Retail Pharmacy Package Delivery retail construction and is still working on it. There are two problems with requiring the standard. And we dont know enough information and to construct that standard in a permanent federal regulation. And then to modify as we learn from the cdc another Public Health officials and from the workplace themselves. And that burden for those struggling to reopen. Exposing to unnecessary liability. And to set that standard takes too long and it takes osha seven years to compile all the data necessary to meet all the regulatory requirements. To have that emergency act on temporary standard that must be done in seven days. And in 1983 and that was overturned because osha could not meet the statutory threshold requirements and indeed has lost more cases and then they have one for the same reason. And the bill that she created in her Office Without any consultation with the white house or the senate and we never had a hearing in this committee of jurisdiction. No regular order no effort for the bipartisan consensus this is no way to operate a challenge of this magnitude in response to the pandemic no wonder it is dead or alive i also know the aflcio forest osha to issue a standard extensive and timeconsuming litigation against for protecting the nations workers in the midst of a pandemic and very unlikely to succeed i take exception to your remarks talk about that lawsuit no lawyer let their client talk about that it is a matter that they would ask them to be careful about that and expect them not to follow their lawyers advice is unfair to them. So i was impressed, very impressed with the variance and speed osha has fashioned its response. Remember we didnt even know about this. The experience of the past pandemics i am glad they built upon this experience i have taught with hundreds of businesses to decide whether and how to reopen thats true for every member of this room. Those include a concern of the health of their employees. They canceled the cdc and with the Public Health officials and in following the osha guidance they are truly grateful for they want to provide them and it is helping them achieve that and then to help them keep the workplace safe and healthy cracks im looking forward to the testimony today and then to protect the most important part the American Economy. And then to make this country so prosperous. And then as an icu nurse i want her to be safe and healthy as she goes about her extremely important work even as we sit here taking care of the sickest. She and her colleagues deserve nothing less and then not for special interest and the wasteful litigation and the partisan legislative gains. America will get through this and those that are most vulnerable to this disease to reopen the American Economy and prosperity for all there is cause for great concern but not panic. And is the best way to go for sars, mers, h1n1, ebola, thank you and i yield back. I just want to respond for a moment obama started on an airborne disease with 100,000 dead so votes will be called the witnesses. And the members. And to those committee electronically. I first witness is the principal Deputy Assistant secretary at osha and joined and coming from this committee is a senior policy advisor for 15 years. And to handle Workplace Safety issues including osha the next witness doctor howard is the director of the National Institution for Occupational Safety and Health Doctor howard previously served as the director of the institute 2002 through 2008 and was chief of the occupational Safety Health labor and workforce development. And then we appreciate witnesses for participating. And then in the hearing record and then with your oral presentation 25 minutes with your written statement and let me remind the witnesses the us code section 10012 knowingly and willfully testify that representation and documents and that conceal the cover of material fact. Before you began your testimony press the button on the microphone in front of you so that it will enter in the members can hear you like in front of you will turn green after your five minutes please stop. And when answering a question please turn your microphone on. Thank you for the opportunity to highlight the important work of osha to protect our nations workers are part of the work this agency has done during the Trump Administration and im proud of the work it is performing right now responded to a Worldwide Health crisis. Even as we respond to this pandemic osha received 5900 complaints and based on these complaints with these infections during this time osha has received over 2300 whistleblower complaints which are evaluated along with the whistleblower complaints. Im so proud that the Health Officer is in the agencies personnel to initiate thousands of complaints and working with employers across the country to have safe and healthful working conditions. And then to provide training before and during and after the pandemic my goal is for oshas effort to prevent workers from ever becoming ill and injured because they are doing their job. The efforts to address covid19 is a top priority it quickly pivoted the guidance they need where appropriate it has enforce safety and Health Standards throughout the crisis incredible men and women are committed to carry out the mission to keep americas workers safe and healthy the initial response to the pandemic was to provide extensive guidance and to allow the agency to the everchanging understanding of the virus. We are issuing industry specific alerts for targeting guidance and then to issue general industry guidance and with that processing and healthcare restaurants industry and manufacturing. Also installed extensive guidance into a wide variety of worker education segments available on the osha website. All extensive guidance is important as it continues its important to recognize to serve as the basis rules regarding protection equipment, protection and Hazard Communication in addition to those existing authorities it has the ability to take action and the general duty clause. The aflcio for Emergency Temporary Standard and that flexibility and responsiveness and the two revised policies states are beginning to reopen the economy osha is asking if they are protecting employees to have those inspections. That is clarifying the personal policy of coronavirus. And for those for all employers it will not use guidance as a substitute for enforcement that the agency has the tools and where there are safety issues osha remains a shoulder to shoulder with americas worker it is charged with protecting the rights of whistleblowers under 22 statutes the secretary of labor has made it clear from the white house podium and additional conversations with stakeholders in retaliation against workers is unacceptable. And in this pandemic thousands of investigations resulting in employers receiving uptodate information how to better protect our workers and at the same time to continue to respond nine covid19 worker to the tireless efforts through the agency the continuous outreach and with the important guidance and then to protect americas workers im happy to answer any questions you may have. Good morning chairwoman and chairman scott. And with the osha is part of the cdc and Us Department of health and Human Services i am providing the subcommittee about the covid19 response activities over the past few months over one. 6 million cases have been reported to the cdc this is an working age adults for example there have been 62690 cases a covid19 294 deaths. However the total number of cases is the underestimate due to Data Collection challenges arising from the pandemic. Currently we are actively working to capture occupational data as it relates to covid19 and the added questions of exposures of for Healthcare Workers and the critical into structure industries they are asked to stop using this form by a may 15 and the response to covid19 thousand three main categories and the Technology Response to the criteria the respiratory protective devices and with the respirators are the most common type is n95. During the Global Supply shortage caused by the pandemic. And with the certified respirators by one supported existing and then to increase the ongoing production and to evaluate a new application and with the guidance with regards to respirators made. And then for tripling decisions and then for the Healthcare Workers and then without emergency use authorization and with those that are available for use in Healthcare Settings by having the air purifying respirators and other approved respirators and has not been previously cleared in Healthcare Settings with the stockpiled respirators that had exceeded the shelflife permitting the use of certain respirators those under the performance standards and the reuse of decontaminated filtering face piece respirators. And the state Health Departments and with the workplace. A number of cases of covid19 of Meat Processing is significant. And with the epidemiologist. And then to community and Infection Control plans and to examine multiple features. And then through the Emergency Operations center at cdc were with our Partner Agencies including osha and department of agriculture and department of transportation to produce numerous guidance documents in fact sheets for employers and workers with various industries and occupations cdc and osha have coauthored guidance for then me and poultry packing industry and for employers thank you for the opportunity to participate in todays hearing to answering your questions. We will go vote and come right back. They will call for votes but until we get further informatio information. [inaudible conversations] we dont have permission all to got the same time. So the gentleman from california thank you to chairwoman adams for this critical hearing so the role of the Occupational Safety administration and for working men and women to enforce the standards with nearly one. 5 Million People are affected with covid19 and 100,000 people have died osha has completely abandoned its responsibilities to its mission. The general duty clause that requires employers to provide employees to cause death and serious physical harm and it is evident as petty players are not making a goodfaith effort to protect their workers. Is osha prepared to conduct mandatory onsite inspections in response to worker complaints for those violations not just complaints. And since the beginning of february to address that hazard we has had over 5000 complaints and our inspectors are investigating all of them and where they are getting information from employers it is not adequate opening the investigation so the agency has been doing its job since the beginning of the pandemic. You have enough inspectors to do this in a timely manner . Actively trying to hire an investigators and then to provide us more so we can hire 50 more we are in unprecedented competition with the private sector this is the highly skilled profession and then the mission of the agency but it was very challenging with record low unemployment numbers to come in with the skills that we need. We are pursuing more inspectors. How many workers do you need . How many remain unfilled . 50 are funded this year we are trying to fill even in the midst of the pandemic we are actively recruiting folks to come work for us and we are seeing results. And as diligently as possible. And to enforce National Policies and with those that you work with to make sure rules are applied from facility to facility. And those ten fellow taskforces monday are engaged with the guidance documents and the meat packing guidance as we work on identifying the industries what we are requiring. And i will continue to do that to the best of our ability. Just recently, im looking at the clock, rather than enforcing the osha rule trying to open america again to shift Workplace Safety and that responsibility for the health and safety workers in Critical Industries where is osha consulted in this plan. They all go through clearance and maybe talk about the Health Authorities but osha is approximately 26 states and there are 22. Are the plans to open up america again was osha consulted in preparing the plan . I do believe that we did. Does this sideline osha and its role. And then it highlights our responsibilities. I do not think so. Is this plan consistent with the osha act . As i said the federal existence is specific states and then state plans which we provide grant money so where we are where the jurisdiction we are enforcement node and doing our job i dont think that changes our obligation. And recite the testimony of one of the predecessors want to ask a simple question is a similar or different. We have followed h1 and wine pandemic strategy almost to the t to get the message out as early as january and for all industries and to protect their workers and then to provide industry guidance and we are doing what we are supposed to do with enforcement where training and education and to work with us with guidance i dont think they diverted with h1n1. How they have historically responded and with that existing standards and with those to respond quickly during the pandemic . And with these issues since july 2017 Natural Disaster and then to proactively determine we would stay in enforcement mode available to us and with that investigation for her complaints as you noted over 5000 complaints and it gets us to the employer almost immediately someone has said there is a problem and we are following up its one of the fastest way to achieve a resolution to get the them out of that hazard. How best to you keep workplaces safe and you anticipate you will continue to update this information . Let me take the second question the answer is definitely yes the guidance changes rapidly and i always tell people dont print out the cdc guidance it could be out of date the next time you go to the website. This is a rapidly evolving situation our guidance changes pretty much every weekend every day. The first question we do a lot of guidance with the congregate working situations that are at highest risk such as a nursing home meat packing plant that which the congregate with the customer close together we are doing a lot to match in these situations. Its very different how do is osha plan to engage with workers to ensure the workplace outcome sick we will continue providing guidance and we are actually working on reopening guidance and they are looking at what they will do want to explain how that intersects with the regulations and what they need to do to be in compliance as we go forward that existing guidance that really does provide a very productive roadmap as they reopen their businesses. Cdc and all the rest of us is something new every day as you wish you knew guidance youre taking into account what other people are telling you but as you said earlier how difficult is that for both of you to come up with the standard as opposed to guidance . And guidance is and with that best professional judgment and that it can be easily done and as detailed as it should be but and in the case of the meat packing guidance one of the big issues is establishment level testing this isnt something we put in the guidance and as we know many meat packing processing plants are doing that testing. So with the next iteration to have that information about testing. I yield back. The gentle lady from georgia. Thank you to both witnesses over the last three months watching the coven 18 coronavirus that devastating impact on the nation 100,000 americans that is simply staggering of those have lost someone we have seen time and time again from every part of our community but the Healthcare Providers First Responders and Grocery Store workers and delivery workers have all answered the call to ensure all americans can have access to Vital Services and goods during this period. During the outbreak and with those Healthcare Workers there is no Infectious Disease pay for these workers my colleagues and i we are very poor 8 feet one please do join the original cosponsor of coven 18 every Worker Protection act. And with the emergency standard for frontline workers with the constraints that has been placed on employers during this crisis however this legislation is not necessary for osha to act. My question is for you the following h1n1 pandemic and on the Infectious Disease standard battery and a half years into this administration and 100,000 american deaths into the tent to please explain why the osha Infectious Disease standard is still languishing on the longterm regulatory agenda. So to protect those Healthcare Workers look at the guidance and information and they sent out to be very concerned of access to respirators. On the stanu are talking about. You are moving full steam ahead. Is that a good way to be spending your time during these unprecedented crisis of . Our folks were able to multitask and complete the standard. Its an important standard to act. If it hadnt cut by 10 given the crisis would you consider significant increase in their regulatory budget when is your next plan of action for the standard and when do you expect to have a proposed rule and can you get a day or month or time . The regulatory agenda speaks for itself. Thank you i have no further questions. Thank you very much. Moving on now to the gentle lady from North Carolina, the Ranking Member of education and labor you are recognized. Thank you madam chair man i want to thank the assist for being here today. Its nice to see you again. March 56 days before the World Health Organization classify it as a pandemic the Committee Democrats sent a letter to the secretary of labor demanding they immediately issue an Emergency Temporary Standard. Since march 5 to grea fifth thel has changed in the Scientific Understanding and the application of appropriate and effective particles in combating workplace exposure to the virus. Can you explain further the rationale kind of Workplace Safety guidance behind the detailed workplace and whether this approach has been effective . This approach has been effective. We started with our industry guidance and provide as much information as we had available and we have since brought on more industryspecific guidance then we have manufacturing construction and processing. Its been a way for us to learn more and more about the virus and spread and for us to dig into these specific places then we also managed to break these into usable pieces for the workers and we translated almost everything that we have into spanish and some of our materials are in about 12 other languages. Thank you. Committee democrats and union allies have been circulating in an truthful talking point echoed in the various Media Outlets including the Washington Post that its been missing in action when it comes to protecting workers. Do you believe the administrations critics have needed to analyze the underlying the Workplace Safety when they misleadingly claimed that its neglecting its responsibilities that employers ignore safety in the workplace is and that if any protections under the law . Thank you for highlighting this. I felt strongly about the accusations they wrote a letter to the Washington Post and im happy to provide this for the record. I think that it would be useful if we put it into the record. It is an abysmal misunderstanding of how the private workplace updates and that is every employee or wants his or her workers kept safe to. They go got a d. Big up to debatd guidance as it has developed into a smorgasbord of the coronavirus. What do they take into account when considering updates to its guidance . Thank you very much for that question. There would be a step very high here the stakeholders need perceived and what we are seeing is the situation default so it is a very responsive type of process to whats happening on the ground. I would sum up by saying that its probably the most responsive guidance that i had seen at the cbc. Thank you very much. And thank you for what youre doing and what youre colleagues are doing because we know you are focused on the health and safety of American Workers. I appreciate you emphasizing that in your first comment and i have another question for you. On april 8 that was a statement reminding employers that it is illegal to retaliate against workers because they report unsafe and unhelpful working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. What projections do they have under the act against unlawful retaliation and how is the agency responding to the whistleblower complaints during the pandemic . This is very important work at the agency and we have statutes that we are in charge of and what we see is mostly a livein in the occupational act. What i would like to say is the agency and its whistleblower investigators have already used reinstatement of workers. They have seen letters of reprimand removed based on a phone call as we initiate investigation and in fact we have reports of businesses understanding and changing their structure so that they are not retaliating and they are encouraging the safety concerns. Thank you. I want to recognize a speed to thank you madam chair. I hope that you can hear me okay, and i very much appreciate the hearing. I think that this is a very important hearing and i appreciate the witnesses. We are in an unprecedented time we have lost over 100,000 american lives. That is almost more than we lost during world war i and it is more than all of the war combined since world war ii so i think what we are talking about is something extremely unprecedented requires complete attention to the. They love to travel to national parks. Amazon warehouse workers who died on the 27th wedding anniversary, 28yearold experience in foster care and transit worker and father of three who coached his kids in baseball and wrestling. These workers lost their lives after serving the communities during the pandemic. The loss of their lives is an incredible tragedy and preventable one. If the division of department of labor and charged with that important responsibility and im glad to have a representative here today to better understand what youve been doing to protect workers in the pandemic. As the principa principal Deputy Assistant secretary, how many workers in the United States have contracted covid in the workplace . We have reports of worker injury related to covid and what they do instead of in the statistics are the fact that we have 5,000 complaints right now and our agency is working expeditiously to close the complaint and learn how to provide employers and workers the best Information Available to protect themselves. Argue saying the Agency Charged with protecting workers is not tracking the infections in the workplace . The uk for example has been tracking deaths by occupation. Are you not tracking this, are you in capable of tracking these separate from the complaints . I can go into a description of recordkeeping but but i think doctor howard might be the best person to talk about the way that its tracked. As i mentioned in my testimony, we have been Getting Better at tracking occupation and industry for the cases. We have a new case report that we are hoping the states. Fullstop using and we asked them to use on the 15th of may in which there are specific fields that can be filled out that delineate the occupation industry of the worker is. We have done more in the area of surveillance for the Healthcare Worker occupation and we are beginning to do that for poetry and poultry processing as well. To modernize the Data Collection for these type of things and im happy to go into more detail on that. Thank you. I guess what i would say is may 15 is pretty late for the beginning to track deaths and occupational deaths and cases. Let me go back. Is it true that they revised the previous policy for the recording cases of the virus stating that under the recordkeeping requirements, the virus is a recordable illness and employers are responsible for recording the cases of the virus and also isnt it true they only revive the Data Collection policy on incidents in the workplace on the 19th more than two months after President Trump declared a state of emergency . They wanted to focus on other employers to look at heightening the practices so there was never a recession if you will for the coke is related recordkeeping on their logs. Weve pursued a new guidance document that emphasizes the obligation to examine and put that on their logs. What we now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Walker. Theres been a lot of discussion for my colleagues across the aisle pointing to an emergency standard as being the only solution to guarantee workplace protections which completely overlooks the significant burdens placed on Small Businesses that are already struggling as most of the country can see. I speak to Small Businesses literally every day that are hanging your head trying to make tough decisions just to keep their doors open. The regulations would create additional barriers. My question you mention in your testimony the important work they are doing in conjunction with the cdc to issue industry specific guidance to the worker safety just yesterday when i was looking through the website i was encouraged to find detailed guidance for various industries ranging from the retail to the airline industry. Can you expand why its important to the unique challenges of each industry as opposed to the onesizefitsall regulation covering all industries lex i think its very important that we are able to take over general industry guidance and then put it into the specific industries because they are different. Construction can be inside and outside so there is a variety of social distancing issues folks face. And if i can comment briefly on the Small Business aspect of the question, we have an Onsite Consultation Program that is available in all 50 states for Small Businesses to find a person who can help them implement the safety and health and there is a firewall between the enforcement side and we have seen dramatic improvement in results from Small Businesses utilizing the Onsite Consultation Program. How often does the cbc and osha received new data as soon as tomorrow it would be applicable almost six weeks from now. From those that we are developing but also from a number of these industries they are working 24 seven to provide the best Information Available. Once it has been issued it must be replaced a permanent standard i believe the standard is the customary rulemaking process gathering Stakeholder Input to the Public Comment as well as hearings. Can you tell me the average amount of time it takes to gather the necessary data and evidence to publish a permanent standard . According to the gao report it takes eight to 15 years to promulgate a new standard. Would you say the abbreviated process would require Additional Resources that could be used to enforce existing guidelines to protect workers in order to publish the rule within a sixmonth time frame . I do think that we are working aroundtheclock to provide the Information Available to make Information Available. The other piece of the rulemaking issue is a robust comments during the rulemaking process. I think it is clear for all of us that this is still a learning process. We could all agree that resources are best spent on the American Workers and businesses maintaining safe workplaces rather than complying with more bureaucratic demands and i yield back. The problem between this and other committees is that we seem to be mired in lawsuits brought by both sides of the aisle which could basically bring the hold to the important work done by the committees. I would further like to comment on the remarks of a i have a question for you. A large survey by the American Nurses association indicates that where the facility. The subsidies are contaminating the respirator is a they had to reuse a socalled decontaminated respirator with confirmed patients. They are safe for Healthcare Workers to use and the decontaminated respirator masks to become masks are as protected in preventing infections. The it isnt the first step in optimizing the use of respirators for Healthcare Workers it is literally the last step. Every other type of respirator we recommended healthcare the science of decontamination is relatively new to. They take exception to the fact of the contaminating and what we recommend a inhospital planning to do this is to check with the manufacturer. There are over 500 bottles of n. 95 and each are constructed a little differently. Its important to identify with the manufacturer what do you think is going to happen to this particular model we are using it for use Hydrogen Peroxide as a decontamination method. So again its the last step in the controls and among the optimization procedures it is literally the last step. So check with the manufacturer and the companies that are planning to decontaminate the respirator. A and does it kill the virus. Thank you for the answer. Youve answered the other questions i was going to ask you. In your march 19 letter to the chair man and representative atoms, you stated an emergency standard has been needed to protect Healthcare Workers or others because the Healthcare Industry fully understands the gravity of the situation and is taking the appropriate step to protect its workers. Theyve been infected and 291 are dead as of the last count. Theyve reached out with deep concerns and the need to reuse a paper mask like the one that im wearing over and over again. One of the standard ensure a. Its already required and so what we did early on is address the needs to slow the rate. We ensure that it could occur while protecting the workers had not destroying the respirator. The gentleman from virginia and you are recognized. Into the decisions to ten gave the over 100 per month that is a significant increase and i appreciate the steps youve taken to expand the workload during this time. Thank you for outlining how theyve been responding to the virus and how frequently you are issued a guidance through the ability to revise guidance they are working to ensure they are protected into the guidance is accessible through things like covid tip of the day employers and workers. Back on april 16 osha issued a policy compliance to evaluate the goodfaith efforts to comply with safety and Health Standards during the corona virus pandemic. Can you elaborate on this including what kind of factors to consider when evaluating the efforts and how they should document these efforts to comply . Thank you for the question. I was focused on what the medical removal issues and requirements and existing standards. A lot of the people that were providing the services to the workers were no longer able to do that because of the shelter in place issues. So, those things were not going to be available to the employer. So, as they look to reopen and to reschedule if and when an inspector comes on the site, they need to explain what their plan is Going Forward to catch up on the requirements they have to protect the workers under the standards. With the specific webinars and opportunities that ask direct questions. Thank you very much with thee question. We have had a very active engagement with the unions and stakeholders. They talk about almost 4,000 outreach activities that theyve already done in the last two or three months. So we are actively engaged in all times of what the agency does and as we continue to work through the summer and into the fall and we will give the best information that we can. I think one of the most important things we can see immediately is the dramatic increase. People are looking for answers. The fda issued an authorization permitting the use of certain respirators and other under countries Safety Standards during the pandemic. How is it workin was it workinga to ensure the efficacy of the respirators thats thank you for the question. We work very closely with the senator at the fda that is responsible for approving the respirators. And we look with fda to the standards of a many chinese manufacturers used so we work to figure out a which ones me at the International Standards and then including on the way to t the. With Additional Resources educate themselves about how to prevent the workplace . One of the things we do, we do field Technical Assistance visits with others. As i mentioned, we have 34 sites for beef, pork and chicken processing and weve had excellent cooperation from the Plant Operators and the companies involved. As you know, a Meat Processing plant is a very labor intensive workplace and our recommendations are fundamental on the issue of keeping people apart. That is extremely difficult to do and very labor intensive. So the field investigations have been educational for us and educational also for the Plant Operator in the companies. I want to recognize the gentle lady from michigan. Thank you madam chair and i join my colleagues after having lost 100,000 americans to this disease. Its known that you oversee an agency with a budget of 552 million. You are going in every day . How many calls or meetings do you take each day . Its quite a few. They are specific calls or outreach that you are doing that this sort of unprompted. It is a combination of activities related to a weekly meeting with all of our senior staff from the administrators. We meet weekly to other anime essential during the time . I know a member of congress that was unprompted to first call i i made when this was declared was to our Grocery Stores. How are you getting prepared and have you made any calls like that . We have had calls with the stakeholders and have personally done these things myself. We continue to be the Communications Office and they director of compliance. I would invite you any time to call the grocers in michigan. These hardworking individuals i know they would welcome a phone call from you at any time. Thank you for your expertise and testimony today. I think last month you might have seen i introduced legislation to create a task force from across the government to establish the scientific guidance and recommendations to the industries and they hurt you in one of the previous responses that you see they are changing almost a weekly basis. How is data being communicated and how do you work on the interagency basis to communicate these changing sciencebased practice that her comingout . The interaction with other federal agencies, the department of agriculture which we have had a much closer relationship with lately in the Food Safety Inspection Service as well as the department of transportation so wherever the particular workplace or industry is, we tend to reach out to that particular federal agency that often regulators are responsible in that area and the union involved and Employers Association of service that industry. Thank you. Michigan has been pretty hard hit particularly in our Nursing Homes by this corona virus pandemic. Ive heard complaints that you were citing from businesses in my district that have found osha guidance as confusing so for example on page ten in favor of this report several times under guidance of preparing workplac workplaces, page ten you state employers should provide a face mask if feasible and best person to where it is cultivated. Why did osha issue guidance like this and why not jus had why noy stated that they can prevent the spread of covid when they are worn by workers . This was written in early march and so a thought process around the facemasks may have changed. But i do think doctor howard can give you the more Scientific Answers around the use of the facemasks. Our concern here is often around respiratory protection and the use of respirators. With that, i am out of time but we will think the Committee Chair for holding todays hearing and we will follow up on questions for the record. Thank you. Im going to recognize myself now for my questions. Do you think that covid presents a grave danger to workers . I think you are asking questions around the Emergency Temporary Standard and i cannot answer that. Im not. Im simply asking is covid in your opinion does it present a danger to workers . I think youre asking questions around okay you are not going to answer that. For 260 Healthcare Workers have already died of covid19. Tens of thousands have already been infected. Is covid19 a danger to Health Care Workers . Can you give me a yes or no . What i will tell you is osha has prioritized Health Care Workers and identified the issue of respirators since the very beginning of this pandemic. As said before, we issued five guidance documents in an attempt to ensure that respirators didnt impact the workers. Isnt a grave danger yes or no . Im not going to answer yes or no. I dont want to use up my time like that. Doctor howard, yes or no for me do you think that covid19 presents a grave danger to workers . Yes i do. All right. Let me ask you doctor howard, lets focus on the meatpacking workers is covid19 in your opinion a grave danger for the meatpacking workers . Yes i do. Without Health Care Workers . Is ideal. Can you answer honestly if they were a worker in a Meat Processing plant or nursing home, would you feel safe knowing there was an enforceable osha standard and the agency stood ready to Issue Citations if safe working standards were being violated . Or would you feel safer knowing only that your employer just had to make a goodfaith effort to comply with voluntary guidance . What i can tell you is the agency has focused on the Meat Processing industry. We have over 58 complaints or inspections acted correctly and we have had daily phone calls and doctor howards office to address the concerns around the meatpacking okay. Okay. I just want to know if they were a worker would you feel safer knowing that there was an enforceable standard into the agency stood to prepare the work standards if they were being violated or what you felt safer knowing the only thing your employer have to do is make a goodfaith effort can you give me a yes or no . I think im going to tell you the agency is doing everything it can related to the. The data comes on tv every day we see people are not only coming down with the disease but they are dying in these plants. The theyve gone to more than 11,000 workers deaths have tripled surging from 17 to at least 63. Given those numbers would you say that the current strategy ensures the safety of the Meat Processing workers is working . I have to be careful here because we do have open inspections and investigations in meatpacking facilities. The answer is we stand ready if we find violations is the only way to accomplish this is to slow down the production line, would they be willing to order them to do so . It isnt within the jurisdiction of the agency. What they can do is in our guidance. Thats fine. How many plants has osha done a physical inspection . Within the last week i believe it is ten. How many of those have been closed with no citations . I believe most of those are still pending. We have six months to complete the inspection. Doctor howard, let me ask you. You said your testimony discussed the inspections of 30 for meatpacking facilities in 12 states. It difficult in redefining these facilities and would there be a far more effective to keep it out by requiring regular testing . Right now they dont have the establishment to give an employer that is interested in doing testing. In thinking about that we have a lot of information that we are putting together and we may be coming out with more guidance on the issue but right now, we dont have enough information to recommend establishments wide. The i apologize. My time is up and i would now yield. Think the chair for the recognition. Thank you for being here today and my colleague from michigan talked about mass and you said earlier in march things have changed in the commerce we are following this information so businesses out there want their workers to be healthy and safe. As things change how are they making sure the businesses that these changes and defined the business person in kentucky trying to run a factory, what is the best way for me to know the best practices as they change every day with the updates . We can update the website very quickly so as the documents go up and put the we put them oe and push them out and as many social media platforms as we have available and we have seen a dramatic increase in the traffic on the website in addition to our newsletter. We think employers and workers are seeking the best information possible. A lot of our website also links to the federal partners and we have an abundance of guidance based on what they are finding scientifically and medically and we are working as quickly as possible to provide the best information to everyone. Thank you. And then doctor howard, i know the fda has oversight on the assignments and did the order for the certain respirators that are certified in other countries for use . How is your organization working with fda to ensure these states advocacy is there and that it will be used flex thank you for the question. As we mentioned we worked very closely with fda on these emergency use authorization but they publish some of our laboratory looks the respirator and those are the two main attributes that we are thinking is important. We have tested some of the respirators and they dont come to the 95 of the filtration efficiency so we work with fda and they send it to us for evaluation. We also share that with fda and they decide which model they are going to put out based on the testing. Got two big issues for protecting is how tight that it is a. Of the other is the material itself that filters the particles so filtering and fit, those are the two big things we test for. It creates a moral hazard sometimes. I know sometimes you get conflicting information businesses do and employers do and not in this specifically but i know there are other areas if you comply with when you are a avoiding another. As more businesses are reopening and ive heard from somehow incur due to the critical it is across the federal government and agencies are not providing conflicting information. Can you elaborate it how you Work Together to coordinate during the pandemic . I will take it first. We work very closely with osha to make sure that does not happen. Thats the worst outcome we can make is to have conflicting information so any information that involves the workplace we run by further comment. I would say we have an excellent working relationship with our federal partners. I know our folks on the phone with them all the time and if you believe in the response youve seen and all of government process here so any of them weve put out have also been vetted to make sure we are not in opposition with the federal partners. I appreciate the hard work wk you are doing and i know we are all concerned people show up in a place they can be safe and you are trying to put that out in an everchanging environment and businesses are trying to figure out how to do it. We all need to Work Together to make this work. Thank you for your effort. I appreciate it and will yield back. What they recognize the gentleman from connecticut. Theres going to be a [inaudible] who succumbed to cope it to the covid. There are those that really are the good guys. She was a caregiver that treated her child as a calling and not as a job and was described as kindhearted and again it reinforces that this isnt a theoretical issue but its about human beings who are doing right by all of us in terms of keeping the country Going Forward. I want to touch base with both witnesses this isnt the first pandemic that osha has encountered. They acted very swiftly to put in place the standards. My wife is a Nurse Practitioner and worked in bellevue and still remembers the day where again you drew blood and used needles with no gloves and there was no such thing as disposable needles. Osha created with a standard of a regime that we now just sort of take for granted when we go to hospitals. Were they wrong to institute a standard versus just operating with guidelines . I believe they followed the requirements to establish the standard. It wasnt a five to 20 year process. It happened in swift terms. Did they do the right thing by implementing that stand earth to deal with aids, hiv . I think so and id find out they followed california in that area. And we talk about having a standard put into place, this isnt some wild unprecedented motion. The fact of the matter is that this part of the reality when people walk into a doctors offices or hospitals. The its about the fact youve got to do more than just throw it in the washing machine. There is real issues that youve got to do it the right way. Why wouldnt that sort of standard be something that would hope died a lot of employers and i told you because this is relevant in connecticut which has been hard hit. Weve had tremendous donations from private individuals in terms of getting masks by some of them as you pointed out are different. If you are a hospital or nursing home trying to organize this, it sounds to me based on the testimony you need more than just putting them all together and disinfecting them in the same fashion. So why wouldnt that be a good thing to have a more precise advice that are described so that employers would know that youve got to do more than just treat them all the same . I certainly think more specification you could provide a more helpful it is to that singular workplace. The problem is we cant do guidance thats highly specific to each so we have to be fairly general guidance and then look at the application and help employers further Consultation Service and apply the guidelines to their specific workplace. Big and having the standard that says youve got to look at the manufacturers specifications when you are going to reuse and n. 95 mask, that is as you pointed out necessary to make sure when they reuse them they are going to be protected and i would say a nurse at a local hospital whos been incubating patients with reused masks, they were basically reusing them over a period of seven days. You couldnt be any more high risk situations and incubating a patient as a worker and that shows how life and death having those standards out there for people like dawn are going to be safe in terms of doing amazing work in terms of saving lives. Is the gentleman from michigan prepared to answer questions . Thank you mr. Chairman just wondering what he was looking at so its been interesting to watch the. Thank you mr. Chairman for holding this hearing. I would conquer we ought to do this regularly, have live hearing is where we are here in the room. Its the best way to get the work done and i think by now we should be capable of handling this plus we have a lot to consider. The its good to see you back. Its strange that you are not telling me what to see and do when i chaired for six years. So you got me through that and im sure you are giving it your best effort now and we appreciate that. Having been away from votes ive probably missed some questions asked but there were a few i really wanted to ask as well and it goes back to guidance and as we wrestle with the old lady i know during the time we worked together on what rules need to be in place and what laws have to be in place and how you could work in a system thats mandated to deal with situations that came up whether it was a manufacturing situation and how the hospital situations going on. Let me ask again why the agency believes its better to issue guidance as opposed to the new regulation response to the spread. And if you could also provide a realworld example of where your agency would have been delayed in this response if youd had a hard and fast rule in place as opposed to guidance. Thank you and i appreciate the kind words. I think what we have seen over the last few months as i said we were at 5,000 complaints and the agency has taken almost the same number of come complains a so with the way this virus has changed and our understanding of it, nor documents have been able to address what we know today, we issue guidance just on monday and we have more coming out may be even more as we speak. Weve gone from the idea of not Wearing Masks to now almost everyone in the room wearing a mask and if it is a twomonth evolution thought process so we are able to look at what is happening and respond and put that information out as expeditiously as possible on the website and get folks are still as i said 24 7 out there responding and responding to other safety and Health Concerns as people are returning to work and we are seeing a small increase in problems related to what i would call what they do on an everyday basis related to safety and health so this is a Good Opportunity to remind folks of their obligations exist and employers need to be focused on those as they restart their businesses. Is a Committee Democrat forum held on may 14, former assistant secretary David Michaels who i worked with extensively told members if he was in charge of the agency during the pandemic he would be doing inspections of highprofile workplaces and would be talking to the media to inform workers of their rights. By all accounts, osha is doing just that. Can you elaborate on the departments efforts in this regard and are there any other misleading statements made by our friends on the other side of the union that you would like to clear up . I would like to highlight one part of the question about whistleblowers. I think you could not get a better spokesperson for the protection then the secretary of labor at the white house and he has poignantly said on april 9 retaliation wouldnt be tolerated. Whistleblower investigators have tackled almost 2,000 the other complaints we have received from our other statutes so we have seen success and as i said, letters of reprimand removed an actual policy changes by businesses to ensure that the workers have the rights to express concerns about their safety and health in the workplace. I am not really sure where people are not seeing that message because the secretary of labor there is no Higher Authority from the white house to determine and to determine my say that this is not acceptable behavior. Thank you and i want you back. The gentle lady from oregon. Thank you to the chair and Ranking Member and also to the witnesses today. We had 100,000 deaths and those are not just numbers but they are real people and our thoughts and prayers are with their families but we have to keep in mind the institute for safety and health have an obligation and they are falling short. Too many are testing and the absence of leadership in introducing that every Worker Protection act i was pleased that it was included in the act and they are showing up every day despite the risks. The nurse or nurse to become nurses, doctors, firefighters, postal employers, Health Care Workers, they are the heart and soul of the community right now and they will help us get through this. I want to ask you this, the cbc recently changed its guidance along with surgical masks rather than and 95. The hospitals to mind debate could invite the workers. News reports document those that objected to the guidance and have their credentials challenged a. What is the change in the cbc guidance in the shortages and personal protective equipment or new scientific information plaques to . As you noted near the 5000 complaints and referrals related to covid19 that is from outbreaks in the workplace to lack of ppe and physical distancing practices. Many have been closed without action so how many has osha issued under the general duty clause . At this point we have issued one citation under the existing standard and i would note we still have six months to complete any investigation or enforcement action. We are relying on citations may be are not the best parameters for we are really trying to remove the worker from the hazard or the hazard for the workplace our priority has been that we have been proactively working on all of those issues when we receive the complaints employers get information in case they are not aware and to change the work practice if we do not find an employer protecting workers. How many related citation have you issued under any existing standard . We had one within the last week a substantial amount of time within the statute of limitations. I have heard there is wind and thats for recordkeeping understand the general duties to take more time thats why its more efficient and effective to issue the emergencies standard but you emphasize that oshas existing standards for reps raiders pbs sanitation that can those be issued faster . We have to build a legal case to defend our citations i do not believe rushing to issue a citation is that best effort. What our folks need to do and what they are doing is proactively to investigate all complaints received and then build the appropriate legal case to defend that to issue a citation not legal is irresponsible on our part. I appreciate that but or again osha has been proactive its not perfect but i have been calling on them to do more to protect workers recently they gave a violation with only nine days. Nothing prevents that that related to complaints what you dont see when we provide the employer information to protect workers and their practices change that is one of the key elements to remove the worker from the hazard or remove the hazard we think there is positive action occurring when we take the complaints and see an employer not moving to make appropriate changes we can enforce. I also want to note this Committee Received a letter dated may 20th doctor redfield attached the cdc available data on Healthcare Worker infection rates he also noted it is likely an underestimate as they are not often reported to the cdc so how challenging it is not only for you at osha to do your work but us as policymakers to make policy decisions without good data. My time is about to expired but we really need good data and we dont have it. I yield back. The gentleman from wisconsin. A couple of questions. First of all i think things are Getting Better hearing from employers is the lack of ppe and in my district we have some ability to make more masks which is one of the big things employers will need. But i am wondering are either of your agencies doing anything . It frustrates me because the industry of my a district is doing yeomans work to get those machines up and running. Im a little that frustrated with regard to fema who could have waited a little longer done a little bit more are you doing anything in your agency to make sure the aid is available or keeping track how much you need or working in coordination with fema . I think doctor howard has a larger responsibility one thing osha has participated is the supply Chain Task Force we have been working with federal partners to determine how we can get more supply and agai again, testified previously the most important thing we did was to assure there was ppe respiratory protection available related to the burn rate in the hospitals and i will refer to doctor howard. We work with our partners at cdc as part of the National Response Coordination Center right now the National Stockpile is purchasing 800 million respirators on the supply side three m is up at 90 million per month. So we are seeing a change now from where we were three months ago. The supply is increasing. I cannot say the distribution in every corner of the United States is the same but the supply pipeline is increasing. How many masks per month do we need . Think thats a very difficult thing to figure out. One thing were doing is looking at the supply chain and to the utilization. We have a burn rate calculator which is now an app individual hospitals can use to figure out their own birthrate of ppe with a Monitoring System with 100 hospitals enrolled to develop that National System to figure out the inventory and the utilization rate. Are there other employers . But were talking right now the end 95 respirator which is used for procedures and hospitalized on hospitals. You must have an idea. We are talking in the millions. 2 million . 5million . For the National Supply . That number i dont know but it is certainly in the millions. Thank you for being here today how does osha help employers determine worker risk with exposure to covid19 . We have a lot of manufacturers in my district based on the specific operations they may feel they fall into higher medium or low risk what is the biggest determining factor . How manufacturing workers and how close they can be throughout the day and what other factors that go into the classification . This is a contact issue we put out manufacturing guidance to help folks work through the issues its incumbent upon the employer to do analysis of work practices to determine if there are changes they can make and then we have a hierarchy of controls some folks find that to be tedious for manufacturers that have trained in this area it is an important part of the agency as well to have compliance. There was the feeling among some medical professionals that eventually regardless of what we do it will go to the population we should protect the vulnerable but it is inevitable that will go through the population as a whole but the question is how long that will take. Do you believe that are not . Five years from now we get a vaccine . What do you think . But that is outside of my jurisdiction i would refer to doctor howard. Thank you very much. Do you want me to respond . There is no timeline as doctor fauci has said at nih 12 through 18 months we hope sooner that would be great to the issue of everybody in the population getting covid19 but do they all show up in the same emergency room at the same time . That is the issue protecting. I dont believe it is inevitable but if everybody gets their all at once you will crush the healthcare system. Let me recognize our distinguished chair. You have indicated you are not responding to questions involving the emergency standard i agree with the gentleman from alabama no good lawyer talks about issues under litigation as the chair has indicated you need a legal basis to that claim are you claiming a legal privilege end of so which privilege . I have been advised not to answer questions. Can you provide for the record apparently you dont know which privilege you are using if you could provide for the committee which legal privilege you are relying on to not answer the questions. You have indicated in your testimony osha considers retaliation unacceptable how many complaints of retaliation has osha received how many businesses have been sanctioned in retaliation . As of may 26374 whistleblower complaints for coded there is no statute of limitations on the investigations so while they are ongoing i cannot tell you in certain circumstances we have seen resolution almost immediately. Sometimes they got their job back. Thats not the sanctioned they should of been fine to begin with how many have been sanctioned . At this juncture i believe we have issued any sanctions per s se. We have done back pay and one of the other issues is that approach by these businesses. So in retaliation. They have to pay back pay to begin with and there is no sanctioned. The made death of Nursing Homes the general duty clause generally used after a death or serious injury. How many have been conducted proactively rather than in response to a debt or complaint . I would say everything we do is proactive and we have issued nursing home guidance and i would point back to everything we have done to protect the respirator supply. How many of them proactive and not in response to a death or complaint in response . You say all of those are initiated through unprogrammed activity even are open as a fatality and catastrophe inspection and those workers or initiated for the response to the complaints. None were proactive prevention. If you like what we have done in previous Natural Disasters or other emergency situations where be suspended enforcement we proactively chose not to do this is this area we have actively pursued investigations. Thats not proactive. Is osha bound by the policy to establish a new rule . The department as a whole is. You cannot the mat on establish the emergency standard without the other rule. Thats the question youre trying to get on the emergency standard area that you for one. Formally working in california does it have an airborne disease standard and what should congress consider while drafting legislation. It does have a standard civic how long has that been in effect . And in developed for a number of years before that. You are recognized. Thank you mr. Chair. The Trump Administration did not act to prevent her mother country can you give detailed by the action of your agency with over 19 being declared a pandemic by the who on march 11 to ensure Healthcare Workers another essential businesses were prepared to respond. Thank you for the question osha as early as january this year started to put information on the website to inform individuals of the pandemic at that point was the unknown novel coronavirus. We outlined what standards employers should be aware of and in compliance with and subsequently provided guidance with documents to help employers respond to the pandemic. Those deep cattle industries are in my district and i have four major poultry processing facilities located in my district. Those that have been significantly affected by the covid19 outbreak you testify with those Meat Processing facilities across the country to provide recommendations based on your observations can you explain with these facilities and how businesses implement to these challenges . Whether beef or pork or chicken these are labor intensive activities and people are extremely close together on the production line. It is the fundamental principle for protecting workers from covidien teen is to separate people. It is really a feasibility challenge in the Meat Processing plants. We have come up with a number of different recommendations they fill 15 patients on pages to help them figure out how they can do that and still give the food the country needs which is a challenge. We have learned as a public i knew this already but a lot of americans and employees that processing facilities are essential workers so i appreciate what you are doing. There have been a few local hotspots in my district to have any measurable activity and is being a hotspot we are very thankful that and in kentucky i cannot say this enough very slowly reopening every supply on and player and the cdc recommends everyone should wear masks in public settings this would apply to businesses and employees. Doctor howard are there any circumstances that they should not have employees wear masks. And those that over the mouth make it difficult and they we have a difficult time breathing so putting on a mask and make it more difficult so those may not be able to wear a respirator and they just cant tolerate it. So some workers will be in that category that based on those cdc recommendations that young people wear a mask playing baseball and the temperature gets up and spread out pretty good but the governor said most need to wear masks is that a concern so cdc is just getting into the area of sports professional amateur and childrens sports we dont have a lot of guidance that we will face the summer in terms of reopening. Thank you very much i would like to recognize the gentleman. Thank you madam chairwoman for holding this very important hearing. Perhaps in discussion with mr. Courtney you said that during the aids crisis congress required and implemented that standard to protect workers during the aids crisis is that correct. Yes to refer to that congressional mandate. So that happened and then some of my colleagues mentioned quite extensively during the sars outbreak with the Trump Administration this is been the appropriate response are you aware of how Many Americans died during this outbreak. I have those in front of me. I will share them with you from the website the United States of america eight persons with Laboratory Confirmed sars cases and no sars related deaths in the United States would that be a comparable situation for what we are going through now . Im not in the room with you but thats a yes or no question. From where i said the Occupational Safety administration we are almost 5000 complaints on covidien and responding as rapidly as we can. Npr just reported this morning that we have close to 300 United States Healthcare Workers alone killed by covid1 covid19. Obviously we have a hundred thousand those who passed away from covidien teen. More than three quarters of that related inspections have been fatality investigations to put it bluntly your stepping in only when someone has died every day i get a call from workers who are terrified they will become sick in the workplace and for the second elderly family members much we tell those fight and workers and those vulnerable workers that osha refuses to have the mandatory standard in the Great Health Care crisis in history . Osha has existing standards to address this virus and where we find failure to comply. To issue one citation and the greatest crisis even proactively but is a definition of reactive and you are refusing to proactively issue a mandatory standard of any kind during the greatest Health Care Crisis in the workplace in modern history. If your agency inspects workplace only after a worker has died you are not prevented worker infections so i would suggest your agency could be acting strategically looking proactively at Industry Sectors to identify those to protect those in situations of unnecessary and cruel risk to wait for the worst possible outcomes before taking action. This is unconscionable. Let me ask a question of doctor howard. How long have you been in this field of occupational medicine yourself . Since 1981. Have you ever seen a comparable situation of the scope and scale of health risk in American Workplace during your long and distinguished career . The only comparison i can make in the 1980s with the human immunodeficiency virus. Thank you so much for rebalancing oshas mission as a former Construction Business owner i know how important that can be. Employers really do want to do the right thing and care about their employees and keep employees safe and ask osha for assistance that they are doing things is critical so my colleagues on the other side are looking to pin osha as the scapegoat for the Global Pandemic on employers. Food for thought that may seem like a pro workers stance but it wouldnt be very pro worker they lose those two business closures. One question for you my colleagues on the other side seem to think the guidance that you put out is optional and the players can choose to follow that and they say thats why we need to pass more onerous laws that end up in the legal spiderweb that do not meet the needs of all industries does that rhetoric. On be more dangerous that they dont need to legally follow guidance . Its problematic that what we need to say is employers do need to know and understand their obligation under the act to make a plan and determine what they need to do to protect their workers in the time to do that is now before dramatic reopening. We talked about essential workers today and looking at these categories to provide the best updated scientifically guided information that we can. S and tell us what they are doing to resolve the complaint if we find a resolution inappropriate or not protective of the worker we can convert and work to our enforcement again its removing the worker from the hazard or the hazard from the workplace this is what we need to be focused on and not just a shooting citations. I would like to thank you for the work that your agency is doing to produce the guidance all americans are relying on to make safe decisions as they navigate the threat of covid19. We appreciate the long hours you and your team as well as the folks at osha are putting in to ensure that guidance is there. It really is needed for the employers to safely reopen. I know youve played a central role in finding ways to overcome the global shortage of ppe. Weve heard that from hospitals in our district that its been difficult to find sources. What information can you share to help them address the shortages and also employers as well, how do they find appropriate and safe ppe . As i mentioned before, the supply of filtering face piece respirators like and 95 cents increasing. I pointed out domestic manufacturers have doubled and tripled their production capabilities. Three m. Is making 90 million per month and honeywell is making 21 million per month. Host i know they collect data on instances in which exposure could have happened in the workplace. How do we determine if someones exposure did occur in the workplace . That is a difficult question to answer. To tease out the true occupational exposure from what is the Community Exposure that has been carried into the workplace remember it has to have a person carry it around for distinguishing between occupational transmission it is a topic that is involving some very smart epidemiologists peremptory. Let me recognize the gentle lady from georgia you are recognized. You told representative to look at the regulatory agenda on the Infectious Disease standard. That is languishing in the longterm agenda after 100,000 deaths and thousands of worker deaths how can you not be working on a particular standard . Thank you for the question. Because at this juncture we are working on responding to the pandemic and putting the regulatory agenda aside the work of this agency has been focused on protecting workers and removing them from the hazards. The primary mission and goals is to execute that work. Cms has issued regulations that require all longterm care facilities and Nursing Homes receive medicare and medicaid funding report the number of infections and deaths. They said that these reports would be publicly available. Wouldnt it make sense to add the requirements for hospitals to report for these existing reporting requirements . I looked at the requirements for the states. They are going to collect better data and i would think that after they set out the Nursing Homes and longterm care facility data they ought to expand it to hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Could you react to that . Sure and i think that is up to cms. On this front we are moving in the data modernization to taking the beginning of the pipeline for the disease Surveillance Data for just a healthcare facility and then the state Health Department and then to cbc. We are looking at electronic data modernization and we thank the congress for the additional funds that are available. In the here and now, we have redone our case report which includes specific sections about Healthcare Workers as well as workplace exposures so we are hoping the new form which the states now are getting up to speed on will improve our ability to know exactly where the occupational industries are. Will this particular standard be the same for every state or will they be able to. As they have in the past . Thank you for that question. We are trying to move to a uniform system so that is the goal. With the cooperation of the states, and the states have challenges. Hopefully we will be better off than we have been in terms of National Disease surveillance. It includes Nursing Homes i assume. Yes. It includes any kind of institution that is reporting disease as the wellknown having been secretary of hhs theyve agreed to collaborate on reporting that particular condition to the federal government. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you very much. I want to yield out the gentle man from kansas. Just a minute. Im sorry. No apology necessary. Thank you madam chair. Thank you both for being here very much. Being present and answering questions. So, getting our economy open, getting people back to work is just about a top priority above all else as well as getting our schools open come september so maybe i could ask a couple of questions about that as well. What is crucial of course is the open with high level of safety and i am a Firm Believer that businesses need to open but in a very responsible manner and i dont think that this is going to be over in the shortterm. Its to prepare for a longerterm. I know that youve been putting out guidance for a while now. I assume that is going to continue to evolve and i havent read them all, my apologies but are you offering the essentials behind social distancing and guidance . Our guidance is pretty pretenses and i think as folks look to returning to work employers should start to plan now about how they are going to protect their workers. They can do so by examining the work practices and our guidance speaks to a variety of different work practices. So for example the meatpacking guidance discusses social distancing as well as carpooling so i think that is the best guidance to provide information to employers and workers. Are businesses asking for any additional funding or sort of support to set themselves up with plexiglass and Everything Else . Who knows, building another and ask for all workplace areas to be 6 feet apart. Do you get requests such as that . Im not getting funding requests but the Compliance Specialists in Assistance Program has received almost 5,000 requests for information, so i think people are looking to the agency for answers. Are you involved as well in putting out guidance for the workplace . I read some of your background. That is an understatement. We have reams of guidance available in very specific situations. Are they adopting it, do you find it to be practical and useful . A lot of the guidance that relates to the workplace specifically and the workers are reviewed by osha before they are issued by cdc said there is a collaborative effort. Is osha finding high levels of compliance . I spent a tremendous amount of time talking with businesses around my district and visiting them under the circumstances. Are you finding a high level of . I think theres a mixture of results but i do think that employers are attempting to achieve the best protection that they can and again where we fail to see that our enforcement folks will be right there. Do you offer any models were used imodels oruse any companien my district if you are in trusted in those that not only have make their workplace very comfortable and safe but the records show it. Many of them have had no cases with over 500 employees and theyve been following strict guidelines and getting feedback from the workers which is smart for how to achieve this. Are you gaining such information on a regular basis and offering models . We are fortunate people are providing some of the return to work practices so we can review that in the context of our standards. We are actively participating in webinars with a variety of stakeholders and the union folks have been talking to us so we are engaged and opening and we will adapt to what we are learning. Its very important. Obviously not a higher priority than funding vaccine and correcting the virus. Last are you providing any information for restaurants . Ft restaurants can do in order to open safely . Theres guidance available already. The cbc has guidance on restaurants and bars. Right, but it needs to evolve. That doesnt necessarily conclude people sitting down and the current guidance has all of those issues but i also mention all of the guidance is evolving and so Additional Information can be available. What they yield now to the gentleman from texas you are recognized. Thank you chairwoman and all of you april 28 President Trump announced he would issue executive ordeanexecutive ordere the defense production act to force meatpacking plants to remain open leaving tens of thousands of workers in unsafe conditions. The actual order didnt do that because it turns out there is no authority to force them to stay open. Instead it wit of meatpacking ps without any protection for workers leading tens of thousands get sick and over 20 to close down. After he issued the executive order you and they solicitor issued a statement that will take into account good faith attempts to follow the joint Meat Processing guidance. So my first question what motivated the issuance of the statement, who directed you to the solicitor to issue it and can you explain what you mean in the statement by good faith attempts . To start with the good faith effort is to look at the guidance that weve issued with cdc and weve seen and players in the areemployersin the area g a lot of pride in its and information here so theres been some proactive measures taken. Osha is working with doctor howards office and we are having daily phone calls to examine issues surrounding what they are seeing on the ground and what we are seeing. We have enforcement efforts and weve been to these plants for inspections and we will continue to do that. We have i think almost 58 meatpacking compliance with enforcement activities right n now. Thereve been about 11,000 folks involved because of meatpacking plants many folks have died. So if an employer shows good faith is it the case that there will be no citation is that right or good faith and other standards are two Different Things so i would hesitate to comment on enforcement based on the specifics of what they find in the plan. I think peoples lives are literally owereliterally on thee getting infected here. The standards are not mandatory. We could agree on that. The people are dedicated to protecting workers and preventing illness and fatalities so do you think the standards that have been discussed recently when the pandemic hit the u. Think that they should be mandatory . I think what we have provided us a roadmap to help protect the workers. Its one element of the response that the government has had. Theyve gone into these plans and have done walltowall epidemiological studies and we have access to that information as well. You have 11,000 people that have gotten sick. The plans and cruise ships have been the places where this is spread very rapidly and get you dont believe the standards should be mandatory . I think people should comply and if we continue to put the best practices in place, we will eventually and hopefully eradicate the problem but it is a challenge in folks continue to tackle it. I think that its also problematic because can you tell me anywhere else in the program aside from the shortages where good faith gets an employer out of a citation . I can tell you upon implementation of the standard we implemented the goodfaith policy for approximately 30 days as employers learned and tried to figure out how to comply with the standard so we have seen dramatic compliance now. Thanks for your testimony. The Trump Administration has been woefully inadequate in setting standards that will save peoples lives even as more more have become infected and the president has forced them to stay open and that is an incredible failure of the federal agencies and of the Trump Administration. I was back. Thank you very much. We are going to recognize now the gentleman from kansas who are recognized. Thank you madam chair and thanks to the panelists for coming today. Its my belief most believe the president and associated agencies have taken Decisive Action in this incredible pandemic and in fact it is during this time its not only just a whole of government approach also the whole of america approach and now is the time when we should be looking past partisan politics and come together in order to respond in an appropriate manner. I believe largely weve done that and i know you brought up how conditions and guidance are evil thing because we are a learning organization and i also know that youve pointed out the guidance is just that because the Decisionmaking Authority in my opinion not to be pushed down to more local levels where it can be adopted to a community because they can see their Health Situation at the plans to them and what might be true may not be true in a small town in kansas they may not know how many hospitals they have. I applaud you for your efforts and i kno they know it is a challenging time. Getting back to the increase in the number of those that have reached out to you has there been any particular industry that has reached out more than the others . I would say we have seen acrosstheboard industries looking for information and guidance and weve provided as many people from the agency as possible to talk to folks and again by and large we do think that employers are trying to do their best to respond and the agency will be there to help give them the best information that we can. Doctor howard, as the economy regains, most of us agree the biggest fear and threat here is a deflationary spiral going past these economic lines that we cant return back from. So obviously if we want to return back to work many of us believe that to be the best stimulus. We can simply print money in the hopes that saves us answer that makes the cpc and the guidance so incredibly important. Does the cdc have specific guidance for companies that the workers are not simply allowed to practice social distancing perhaps by nature of how closely they are required to stand . The dramatic type of business they are familiar with having done now a number of field investigations in these places is Meat Processing where its extremely laborintensive. People are shoulder to shoulder often times when the production lines. Theres nothing closer than that type of workplace. Weve also seen in Nursing Homes and hospitals you have to be close to the patient. You can do for work 10 feet away from the patient suffers a number of workplaces in which the working situations are significant. We had a business with a number of cases. What should i know as i approach the Business Leaders . Thought i would do is take a copy of the guidance on the meat and poultry processing for workers and employers, all ten pages. Those are our recommendations for solving the problem. Excellent. This question is generally for both of you. What you see that we are generally trending upward trending down in our capacity to deal with this pandemic . If you look at the case number is other than some notable hotspots, the general numbers and cases daytoday are going down as the cdc director has pointed out there may be a second wave in the fall coupled with our normal seasonal influenza, so we cannot rest until they take care of that whole problem. Thank you. That does it for my time. Thank you for coming i appreciate your professionalism and hard work and i will yield back. I want to recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania. Thank you madam chair and id like to thank both of the test fires for being here today. We do know that the job you do is important and appreciate the work you do and i know that the employers that you help appreciate keeping their employees safe because as an employer myself, prior to being elected to office recognize the most important asset is the people to go to work everyday and we want to make sure that they are safe. May 19, osha updated in interim enforcement Response Plan to increase the use of onsite inspections for all types of workplaces, not just Healthcare Facilities and Emergency Responders as osha had previously prioritized. Can you explain the rationale for initially focusing on healthcare Emergency Responder cases for the onsite inspections and what agency is now expanding the use of onsite inspections and other workplaces . Thank you. As the pandemic began the frontline providers were clearly the most challenging position to address the pandemic so we put all of our, not all that we do the majority of the resources into helping with those kind of complaints working with our guidance documents to ensure the respirators were available to them. As the pandemic has changed in the country looks to return to work we thought that the posture should change as well so we have gone from places where employers were not actually open which would have also changed the resources to looking at where people are going to be opening and encouraging folks to plan a. We have protocols for how our inspectors will work on site and we do the job hazard analysis so they can protect themselves as well. Thank you. I think we touched on this a little bit but i will just say this as an economy regained some strength and businesses will continue to take steps to return to the fold operating capacity. This could be difficult however because there are areas where social distancing is simply not feasible. Does the cdc currently have guidance that provides alternatives for the social distancing that is impossible and if not what the agency consider providing such guidance to employers and employees . Yes, we have a lot of our guidance that does create a default, physical distancing but then when the physical distancing isnt feasible, we recommend other things such as wearing a cloth facial covering. The other question i guess i have as we move forward and as an employer starts opening up the businesses and starts to get more operating capacities to increase that come at the guidance they need as it is updated, how readily available or how were we communicating that to the employers so they have the most uptodate information and should they find a better way to protect is the something that ithatsomething ty osha and cbc or do they have to go some place to look for the . Our information is available on the website coming and weve seen a dramatic increase in the use of the website and document. We linked to a lot of cdc guidance but they are also using all of the social media platform available, so we are trying to reach as many folks as possible. We have a newsletter thats gone from approximately 230,000 t 230 subscribers over the last month and a half. I think people are looking to the agency for information and we are updating it as quickly as possible as we were enough to changes and other things we need to be doing. I would just add one of the other channels we are using our webinars that are specifically sponsored by employee or associations come in particular areas ive done several the Iron Workers International for instance, three for the National Safety council. So, those are a good way to get information out and defend for the attendees to ask questions of the government officials. I would say as we experience things in different parts of the country for the best practice or processors or what have you somebody may have figured out a best practice so we will share that readily across the industry. Is that something we push out and can they sign up for in a woranalert if something changesr how does that work ex one of the issues he folders based on what we learn from and employers and workers in the particular workplace on how they are making their workplace safer, so they include all of that learning into our next version of guidance on the particular industry occupation. Thank you very much. Your time is up. But they recognize the gentleman from south dakota mr. Johnson, you are recognized. Thank you madam chair. My line of questioning is for doctor howard. Last month, the president announced that the cdc, osha and others should do everything they can to keep the meatpacking facilities, the Important Role they play in the Food Supply Chain. I was hoping you could walk us through a bit of what the technical advice, guidance and work your agency has done in continuation to that mission. As i mentioned, we have a ten page guidance weve done with osha and its really packed with a lot of very specific information for processing in beef, pork and chicken. One of the challenges if you could highlight the top two or three best findings i dont south dakota this is an area of high interest because of the smithfield plant and i think folks watching at home may be interested to know the best recommendations. So, we start out with the basic recommendation. This is a test. One of the things we have noticed and i mention this because its very important best practice. They are very noisy one of the things we have seen keeping individuals separated with the facemask shield sometimes they have to speak to each other or supervisor it off comes the shield and down comes the mass they shout at each other about to hear that type of interaction is a transmissive event. If we can prevent that from happening, that is the best practice we think would help. Its not one a lot of people know about because they are more knowledgeable about separating the line in terms of the employees. To make sure you are moving a lot of air the temperature is kept very low which helps the virus. It is a challenge the temperatures are low because of food safety. If you look at these best practices put it into the context of the Production Facility itself. Its a challenging thing for us to make recommendations and to get them to be feasible technically within the workplace. Very challenging. Talk about the role as people go into the workplace i examined what appeared to be a rigorous process to get into the plant with Temperature Checks and screening questions. Is that a key best practice . Look at the hierarchy of controls the first is hazard illumination but that is the virus it just happens to be carried along by people who may not know they are infected. They could be asymptomatic or have a little fever but people dont notice that. Those checks prior to showing if you have been in contact with somebody with covid19 the issue of doing a Temperature Check in some companies are starting actual testing but that for the virus is only a snapshot in time it doesnt answer the whole thing sometimes it gives a false sense of security. So then you go into the workplace looking at the engineering and administrative controls and pp if necessary obviously humankind is good at fighting that last battle and to be on high alert thats not the only critical portion of the Food Supply Chain whats the next weakness we should be attuned to . Look at the food at the Grocery Store and the interaction in that setting between workers and customers and now you see the same kind of physical distancing engineering controls with plexiglas between the clerk and the customer we see the same fundamental principle physical distancing to be used in a lot of creative ways depending on the specific workplace you are in. I want to remind my colleagues and this material for submission and must be submitted following the last day of the hearing on june 10 microsoft word format materials submitted must address the subject matter of the hearing only a member of the subcommittee will submit materials for inclusion the record any documents longer than 50 pages will be incorporated that to recognize year from now they will no longer work. And that should be submitted electronically and member offices and then to the inbox. And the record remains open for 13 days for additional submission after the hearing. Thank you for your participation today what we have heard is very troubling members of the subcommittee have additional questions and we ask the witnesses to please respond in writing the record will be held open for 14 days in order to receive those responses and i will remind my colleagues with Committee Practice must be submitted to the Majority Committee or clerk within seven days questions submitted must address the subject matter of the hearing i recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for his closing statements. I ask unanimous consent the American Hospital association the coalition of Workplace Safety and the National Association of manufacturers for todays hearing topic. Thank you to the witnesses. That was outstanding you provided this committee and the public with an enormous amount of very important information. Sometimes you ask questions and say yes or no this does not lend itself to simple yes or no answers a lot of member said this is important and they are right. Its extremely important thats why 20 of us decided to be here in person. We felt strongly enough to be here in person. But so did millions of americans to do their job and thats what they are supposed to do. When i started preparing for this hearing i looked at it from the point of view of my prior life as a lawyer complying with osha law. Okay what kind of advice would i give them . It took me a long time but the benefit of that is this is a confusing time getting good quality information is about 99 percent of what we need to do and that hasnt been easy to come by in this environment. The guidance you put out has been extraordinarily important for employers try to comply but what they want to do is protect employees. The experts have been all over the place now its a problem. Early on dont wear a face mask now youre supposed to some experts say we shouldnt shut down others say we had to. Its been difficult for all of us to figure out what should we do and what you have done is good faith to understand from the rest of us so we can implement it and it was the changing situation and i appreciate that we made some mistakes in washington some of those things have gone too far that we based on what we had at the time from Public Health experts in limited information on that point some of those projections were wildly on the mark and we just have to deal with this as best we can. I see how it helps anything for us to turn to you guys to have an important obligation and very difficult time to keep the workplace safe and go through the legal mumbojumbo. Theres a difference between people on keeping people safe and issuing a standard that by itself doesnt keep anybody safe every employer in america has an obligation under the general duty clause to keep their workplace safe no question about that. What is that duty . That guidance helps describe the duty and enforcement if necessary to determine this employee did not comply. When i saw the aflcio filed a lawsuit i was disappointed. There ever was a time for us not to be filing frivolous lawsuits, this is it particularly against the very departments of government that we rely upon to keep the workplace safe we dont need you to take time off from that job to go sit down with a bunch of lawyers to decide how to respond to the lawsuit and here in congress we passed bill a couple weeks ago. Its not going anywhere because its not acceptable but attempted to deal with this issue and not once do we have a hearing on this jurisdiction not once did be put that bill to have a mockup if this is so important why didnt we do it before he passed the bill. We have worked together in this congress we passed almost 3 trillion with huge bipartisan majorities thats the only way to act in this situation with bipartisan commitment to the American People we need to Work Together like our constituents have to do we should be having partisan hearings and show up for work like our constituents do and take this seriously like our constituents do and understand at the end of the day its all of our jobs for a safe workplace like i said before the most important part of the American Economy working men and women of the United States of america thank you for what you do every day and with that i yield back. Now making my closing statement the Deputy Assistant secretary thank you for joining us for this important discussion all of my colleagues who have been here today and those who are virtually here. I want to emphasize the ets and not one size fits all standard and those that Infection Control panel and with that specific workplace with the investment and the plan in a particular workplace that should involve employees. This is not a required rigid standard. Is the airborne transmissible standard and has not been a onesizefitsall. Let me just say what we heard today in the middle of the Global Health emergency, causing more death than any other workplace crisis that osha has faced and they stubbornly refuse to use its authority to protect the nations workers. The failure to act is a standing act of abdication by the Senior Leaders in department of labor demanding the strong standards and enforcement instead we have voluntary guidance and what you comply with and with the general duty clause and the osha inspector after when the prevention can make a difference when they met their obligation and in said they get those generic suggestions thats not the architectural envision the response during the workplace crisis with that standard that determines what is a grave danger that is standard is necessary not only do the large numbers of sick and dying it is clear those limited actions are not sufficient not only are they refusing with the Emergency Authority the agency will not even resume work on the standards the way that is understanding. And then to protect those workers to prevent exposure we have no mandatory standards and then to enforce safe working conditions to be the key to prevent the second wave that osha the only federal agency with the authority to enforce those conditions is missing in action thoroughly disappointed to those who continue to lack adequate protection on the job when they go home and in fact their families and im upset about the future of this country of osha is in action i can only hope that you and secretary scalia will wake up and choose to fulfill the mission with safe working conditions for every man and woman in this country. If no further business without objection and the committee stands adjourned. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] eternal god who has placed our tears in a bottle, today we weep