Watch live wednesday at 2 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan 3, online at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Next, a hearing on the federal governments role in protecting workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Good morning. The subcommittee on work force protections will come to order. Welcome, everyone. I note that our quorum is present. I note for the subcommittee mr. Courtney of connecticut, mr. Levine of michigan, mr. Castro of texas, dr. Roe of tennessee, mr. Guthrie of kentucky, mr. Smucker of pennsylvania, mr. Banks of indiana, mr. Watkins of kansas, mr. Mercer of pennsylvania, mr. Johnson of south dakota, mr. Cellar of pennsylvania are all permitted to participate in todays hearing with the understanding that their questions will come only after all members of the subcommittee on work force protections on both sides of the aisle who are present either in person or via remote participation pursuant to House Resolution 965 and the accompanying regulations thereto have had an opportunity to question the witnesses. Subcommittee is meeting today for a hearing to hear testimony on examining the federal governments actions to protect workers from covid19 merchandise all microphones both in the hearing room and for those members participating remotely will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background noise. Members will be responsible for unmuting themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they wish to seek recognition. A role call is not necessary to establish a quorum and efficient proceedings conducted remotely or with remote participants. Participations wherever there is an unofficial proceeding with remote participation the clerk willcall the role to help make clear who is present at the start of the proceeding. At this time i ask the clerk to call the role. Chairwoman adams. Present. Mr. Desonie, mr. Decono, mrs. Wild. Present. Mrs. Mcbath. Present. Ms. Omar. Present. Ms. Stevens. Present. Chairman scott. Present. Mr. Burn. Mr. Walker, mr. Klein, mr. Wright, mr. Murphy, chaerwoman adams this concludes the role. Thank you very much. Pursuant to Committee Rule 7c Opening Statements let me remind all of the Committee Members whether youre here or if youre particularly remote please mute your microphone. Thank you. Pursuant to Committee Rule 7c Opening Statements are limited to the chair and Ranking Member. This allows to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides our own members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement. Todays subcommittee hearing will explore the performance of the federal government in protecting worker safety during covid19 pandemic. I want to thank osha Deputy Assistant secretary sweat and nosha director howard for joining us today. The covid19 pandemic has resulted in the worst safety crisis in the history. Nothing compares. In the past four months more than 62,000 Health Care Workers weve asked to risk their lives without protective equipment have been diagnosed with covid19, and at least 291 have died. And this isnt an underestimate. According to cdc these shocking numbers are a mere fraction of the true toll due to the absence of reporting by as many as 27 states, new york city and the district of columbia. As we know infection outbreaks have not been limited to health care facilities. More than 17,000 Meat Processing workers have been infected and estimated 66 have died. One iowa tyson plant saw 60 of its employees test positive. A greely, colorado, meat packing plant closed after hundreds fell ill. Although the plant promised to test every working before reopening. The plant identified so many positive cases that it stopped testing and reopened anyway. Prisons, longterm care facilities, Grocery Stores, transportation systems, and warehouses have all experienced deadly outbreaks. Earlier this month the cdc reported 2,778 infections and 15 deaths among staff employed in correctional and detentional facilities. From late january to late april 36 of all reported infections at correctional facilities were suffered by staff. At least six employees of one warehouse in new york have died from covid19. 129 new York City Transit workers have died of the virus. As of last week 1,124 veterans employees have been diagnosed with covid19 and 31 have died. Some 2,400 postal workers have tested positive and six have dies from covid related illnesses. Its facing an outbreak of 36 cases at its facility in tucson. As we will discuss today we dont really know the toll to workers because this nation has no system for collecting data workplace. And employers are not obligated to publicly report these infections. Some Government Agencies refuse to make this information public due to employer concerns about adverse publicity leaving workers and the public unaware of what risks they are facing. We cannot lose sight of the fact that this is largely say tragedy inflicted on our nations essential workers. People who dont have a choice on whether they have to go to work. People who dont have a choice on whether they or many of those are on the frontliners, theyre low income workers and disproportionately people of color who doan have the luxury of teleworking from home. Covid19 is largely a workplace disease and a community tragedy. In iowa, nebraska, south dakota, coronavirus cases represent 18, 20 and 29 of the states total cases respectively according to the environmental working group. My home nate of North Carolina leads the nation with the number of meat packing plants facing an outbreak, the state department of health and Human Services reporting that at least 23 plants have outbreaks with more than 1,300 worker infections. Yet osha, the agency that this nation has tasked to protect workers, have been largely invisible. It is failed to develop the necessary tools that it needs to combat this pandemic and it has failed to fully use the tools that it has. Instead focusing principally on issuing press releases and voluntarily guidance. This hearing will focus on why that is and the price that this nations workers are paying for oshas inaction. Deep into this pandemic, osha has still not developed any enforceable standards for employers to follow that could protect workers from the airborne transmission of the novel coronavirus. And osha existing enforcement tools to combat that pandemic which includes standards covering respirator and personal protective equipment are inadequate and unused. While guide answer by the centers for Disease Control and prevention is useful, it is not binding. Only osha could enforce safe working conditions. And although osha used tis authority to protect workers, oshas own data shows the majority of the inspections are conducted only after workers have died. And osha has conducted complaints for less than 1 of the complaints filed while the secretary of labor said it does not need an Emergency Temporary Standard because osha already has the tools it needs to enforce guidelines to the general duty clause, the embarrassing truth is that osha has not issued a single citation under the general duty clause to enforce that guidance. Not one. This crisis was foreseeable. And osha was warned. It is clear after the h 1n 1 swine flu that standard was needed to require employers to ares the risk and mitigate the hazards. Such a hazard as well along the way at the beginning of the Trump Administration but in february 2017 that draft standard was mothballed and relegated to the longterm regulatory agenda where it languishes today. On january 1 i joined chairman bobby scott on calling on osha to put the Infectious Disease standard back on the agenda and urged osha to issue a compliance directed for the Health Care Sector and issue an Emergency Temporary Standard if the situation deteriorated. At the time of our request, there was just five confirmed covid19 infections in the u. S. On march 5th we wrote osha again describing how hundreds of Health Care Workers have been exposed and stated the obvious, that osha urgently needed to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard. Ets. In midmarch osha rejected an ets that the Health Care System fully understands the gravity of the situation and taking the appropriate steps to protect workers. In april with more than 720,000 infections nationwide, osha finally issued enforcement guidance but only covering the Health Care Sector. In mid may as workers continue to face risks of infection, illness and death, the agency still refusing to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers from exposure to coronavirus. Here is what osha act says. It says shall provide for an Emergency Temporary Standard if it determines that employees are exposed to a grave danger from new hazards and that such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger. Circumstances like this pandemic are the exact reason that this exists. Yet osha continues to sit on the sidelines. So my question to the secretary of labor is how tens of thousands of workplace infections and hundreds of worker deaths, why is osha missing in action. Failure to take meaningful action has sent a clear message to workers across the country that they are on their own. On friday may 15th, the house of representatives passed the heroes act, hr 6800 which included covid19 every Worker Protection act represented by representatives and myself and directs osha for a temporary standard of seven days to protect workers and hospitals, melania tru meat packing plants and shipyards and other workplaces where a person may face risk from exposure. The heroes act would prohibit employers from retaliating against workers. As the states across the country more workers will be at risk of infection unless osha starts doing its job and if the reopening of workplaces drives up infection rates, states will be forced to inreinstate stayathome orders which do further damage to our economy. The only logical conclusion i could draw is that osha inadequate response has been informed more by politics than modern science and a necessity to protect workers should not be cramped by campaign slogans, about repealing two regulations for every new one that is created. Today were explore and hopefully answer why there has been a lack of political will in the face of this Public Health disaster and well learn why no one seems to care enough to even track the number of workers who are getting sick and dying. And finally i feel the need to respond to two items in miss sweats written testimony. Because of a lawsuit, miss sweat will refuse to answer any questions about an Emergency Temporary Standard and i what note for the record that there is no legal basis for this refusal, it is purely a political statement. And secondly i want to respond to miss sweats testimony that implies that criticism of oshas failure to issue an emergency standard or enforce existing standards does a disservice to the hard working men and women of osha. No one has more respect for the dedicated men and women or the staff of osha and the hard work that they do every day and in committee is shown by the Agency Budget and the opposition to the deterrent of roll backs to worker safety protection. The failure to address a lifethreatening hazard that workers are facing from covid19 is not the fault of osha professional staff but rather due to the unfortunate decisions of oshas political leadership. I would like to now yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Burn, for his opening statement. You are recognized. Thank you for yielding. Let me state for the record that the chairwoman is here physically present in this room. The chairman of the full committee mr. Scott is physically present in the room. The ranking republican member is physically present here in the room. Im physically present here in the room. In fact, there are 15 members of this committee physically present in the room. Nine republicans, six democrats. It is a safe environment, a simple environment as you could tell we are socially distanced. Not much has changed since the democrats decided at the 11th hour to call off last weeks hearing. Osha and nosha officials, my republican colleagues and i were ready to talk about the important work these agencies are doing to combat covid19. And were here again to do so today. It is indeed unfortunate that the democrats decided to play politics on an issue they assert is a top priority. The covid19 pandemic has been an extraordinary time for all americans. Many of us are coming out of mandatory stayathome orders after two months or more. People are returning to work in a new environment with a disease that is still relatively new and about which we still have much to learn. We know the disease affected different people in different ways. Many people who test positive have no or mild symptoms. But a small percentage get very ill and some of them, unfortunately, pass away. But two groups most likely to become very ill are those over 65 who make up 80 of all deaths in this country and those with Underlying Health conditions as listed by the cdc. The disease also presented varied level of risk for workers in different types of jobs. For example an Office Worker who doesnt interact where the publg faces much lower risk than any nurse in an icu. We need to come up with a reliable single standard for Workplace Safety, whether it is for Infectious Disease or covid19 specifically. How did osha handle complex safety and Health Issues in the past . From sars in the 2000s, during the bush administration, to merz, h1n1 and ebola during the Obama Administration, osha did not issue a new standard but instead enforced existing standards and issued guidance which in turn could be the basis for action against an employer under the general duty clause of the osha statute. Let me say that again. During the Obama Administration under three separate diseases, osha did not issue a standard. They issued guidelines and relied upon the guidelines for enforcing the general duty clause. When the acting assistant sect for osha during h1n1 which the chairman referred to, during that pandemic a man named jordan berab, when he testified before this committee in may of 2009 he said osha had ye ated guidance ance, quote, to hem employers determine the most appropriate workplace for the pandemic. And he went on to say because safety risks are greater in certain workplaces, osha is focusing its direct efforts on educati educating employers and employees in the high risk category and they issued a pyramid to categorize risk and only a small portion of employees were at the highest exposure risk level. Mr. Berab referenced postal protective equipment and respirators and sid that osha will ensure that employers follow the tactics that are need to protect Workers Health. Finally he quoted president obamas assessment for the situation of being one cause for deep concern but not panic. What has osha done with covid19 . Just like the Obama Administration, it is issued detailed guidelines, placed an enforcement emphasis on higher risk workplaces, used an occupational risk pyramid to categorize worker risk and remind of the existing standards on ppe, respirators, sanitation and others as well as obligations under the osha acts general duty clause to provide employers with a same and healthy workplace. In addition osha and the cdc have issued industry specific guidance for health care, nursing home and longterm care, retail pharmacy, car service, packaged delivery, retail, construction, manufacturing, restaurant and dental workplaces. And is still working on it. There are two problems with requiring a standard. First, we are still learning about this disease. And we just dont know enough information to meet the level necessary and appropriate to construct an adequate Emergency Temporary Standard and a permanent federal regulation and that is why the various guidance documents issued are so useful. They would be issued relatively quickly and modified as we learn more from the cdc and other Public Health officials and from the workplaces themselves. A standard at this point would be unproductive burden for businesses already struggling to reopen potentially exposing them to unnecessary liability risks during an already challenging time. And would do little to advance Workplace Safety. Second, setting a standard just takes too long. On average it takes osha seven years to compile all of the data necessary and meet all of the regulatory requirements for issuing a standard. I know democrats want an Emergency Temporary Standard or ets, which according to the bill pu must be done in seven days. The last time osha issued an ets was in 1983 and thats over turned because they could not meet the statutory requirements for issuance. They have lost more cases in court than it is won for the same reason. I know the speaker included a provision required by a standard of the bill of the house passed two weeks ago, a bill created in her Office Without any consultation with the white house and the senate and we never had a hearing or mockup in this committee, the committee of jurisdiction. No regular order and no efforts to obtain bipartisan consensus. That is no way to operate the house with a challenge of this magnitude posed by the pandemic and our response to the pandemic. No wonder that bill is dead on arrival in the senate. I also know the afl cio filed a lawsuit to force osha to issue a standard. They filed a lawsuit. Expensive and timeconsuming litigation against the federal Agency Responsible for protecting our nations workers in the midst of a pandemic is unhelpful and very unlikely to succeed. And madam chairwoman i take exception to your matters involving that lawsuit. No lawyer is going to let their client talking about Something Like that with pending litigation. Every lawyer with a client like that will ask them to be careful about that and expect them not to follow the lawyers advice is totally unfair to them. I must say when i started preparing for this hearing with my staff two weeks ago, i was impressed, very impressed, with the diligence and speed with which osha has fashioned its response. Remember, we didnt know about this disease five months ago. Theyre experience with past pandemics surely helped and im glad they both followed and built upon this experience. Ive talked with hundreds of businesses trying to decide whether and how to reopen and that is probably true for every member in this room. Those conversations always include a real concern for the health of their employees. Theyve consulting cdc. Theyve consulted local and state Public Health officials and the industry organizations and, yes, they are closely following this osha guidance which they are truly grateful for. They want to provide employees a safe workplace. And osha is helping them achieve that. Isnt that what the osha statutes purpose is, helping employers and employees keep their workplace safe and healthy. Im looking forward to the testimony today. And i thank the witnesses appearing in the midst of what i know is a very busy time for them. Lets all Work Together to protect the most important part of the American Economy, the working men and women who make this country so very prosperous, including the Health Care Workers, like my sisterinlaw cynthia dukes who is 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 of us. She and her colleagues deserve nothing less. And they are best served by us when we Work Together for them. And not for special interest and we stop the wasteful litigation and partisan legislative games. America will get through this. We can protect our people who are most vulnerable to this disease and reopen the American Economy safely as we start on another road to recovery and prosperity for all. Present obama was right. There is cause for great concern. But not panic. And if oshas response was the best way to go for sars, mers, h1n1 and ebola why it is not for covid19. Thank you and i yield back. I want to thank the Ranking Member but i just want to respond for a moment. Mr. Burn, obama started work on a permanent airborne disease and trump put it on the back burner and still after 100,000 deaths it is still pending. So votes are going to be called in five minutes. But let me introduce the witnesses. Any other members who wish to insert a written statement into the record may do so by spitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in microsoft word by 5 00 p. M. On june 10th, 2020. Let me introduce the two witnesses before well have to take a break. Our first witness will be ms. Lauren sweat, the Principal Assistant secretary for the occupational safe and safe and Health Administration. She joined osha on july 24th, 2017 coming from this committee where she was Senior Policy Adviser as the committee on education and workforce for 15 years and miss sweat handled including osha and the mine safety and Health Administration. Our next witness will be mr. Excuse me doctor john howard from the institute for occupational and safety and health and held that position since 2009. Dr. Howard previously served as director of the institute from 2002 to 2008 prior to coming to nosh he was chief of the division of Occupational Department of labor and workforce development. Were going to im going to do we adjourn now . Okay. Were going to proceed with the hearing and with the witness testimony. So we appreciate the witnesses for participating today. And we look forward to your testimony. But let me remind the witnesses that we have weve read your written statements and they will appear in full in the committee record and pursuant to Committee Practice each is asked to limit to a five minute summary of your written statement and let me remind the witnesses that pursuant to title 18 of the u. S. Code section 1001 it is illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify any statement, representation, written document, or material fact presented to congress or otherwise conceal or cover up a material fact. Before you begin your testimony please remember to press the button on the microphone in front of you. And as you begin to speak the light in front of you will turn green and after four minutes the light will turn yellow to signal that you have one minute remain anding whether the light turns red we ask you that please wrap it up. Well let both witnesses make their presentation before we move to member questions. When answering a question, please remember to once again turn your microphone on. Miss sweat, well first recognize you. Sorry. Thank you for the opportunity to highlight the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations important work of protecting our nations workers. Im proud of the work this agency has done during the Trump Administration but im particularly proud of the work it is performing right now as it responds to a Worldwide Health crisis. The work of the agency continues uninterrupted even as we respond to this pandemic. Between february 1st and may 21st osha received over 5,000 noncovid19 complaints and conducted 5009 investigations based often complaints and 969 inspections. During this time osha received over 2300 noncovid19 whistleblower complaints which are being evaluate add long with the covid19 whistleblower complaints. Im proud of the dedication to the mission of hard working compliance safety and Health Officers and all of the agencys personnel. Our are initiating thousands of investigations of complaints, our staff is rourking with employers across the country to ensure safe and healthful conditions for the nations workers. Our training and education staff have moved quickly to provide training to and before and during and after the pandemic my goal is for oshas efforts to prevent workers from ever becoming ill or injured because theyre doing their job. Oshas efforts to address covid19 has been the top priority since february. Osha quickly pivoted to focus intensely on giving employers and workers the guidance they need to work safely in this rapidlychanging situation. Where appropriate osha has enforced safety and health standards. Throughout this crisis, the men and women of osha have remained committed to carry out the mission to keep americas workers safe and healthy. Oshas initial response to the pandemic was to provide extensive guidance in conjunction with the cdc, guidance has allowed the agency to be nor nimble no response to the everchanging understanding of the virus. Osha continues to issue industry specific alerts that provide targeted guidance on practices and procedures that will help Workers Health and safety. To date osha has issued general industry guidances and to protect workers and Industries Including meat packing and processing, health care, Nursing Homes, restaurants, dentistry and manufacturing. Osha has also distilled its extensive guidance in a wide variety of usable worker education segments available on oshas website. While extensive guidance is important to the rapidly changing dynamic of this pandemic as it continues it is important to recognize the osha exist standards serve as the basis for the covid19 enforcement. Those standards include rules regarding respiratory protection and personal Protection Equipment and eye and face protection and sanitation and hazard communication. In addition to those existing authorities, osha has also the ability to take appropriate action against employers under the general duty clause. Osha was recently sued by the afl cio for an Emergency Temporary Standard and as we have discussed today i cannot comment further surrounding the ets or litigation. The flexibility and responsiveness allowed through guidance is apparent and the guidance issued last week by osha, osha is acting to ensure employers are protecting employees. First osha is increasing in person inspections at all times of workplaces. Second osha is clarifying the previous enforcement policy for reporting cases of coronavirus. Under the new policy, osha will enforce Record Keeping requirements for employee coronavirus illnesses for all employers but to repeat, osha will not use guidance as a substitute for enforcement rather the agency has the tools and intent to pursue both avenues. Where there are safety issues osha remains as always shoulder to shoulder with americas workers. Osha is charged with protecting the rights of whistleblower under 23 statutes. As the secretary of labor has made clear from the white house podium, additional conversations with stakeholders and retaliation against workers is unacceptable. In this pandemic, osha inspectors are initiating thousands of investigations. This is resulting in employers receiving up to date information about how to better protect their workers. During the same time osha inspectors continue to respond to noncovid19 worker fatalities and complaints. Through the tireless efforts of the entire agency, oshas continuous outreach and communication to workers and employers and issuance of important guidance, osha is on the job protecting americas workers. Im happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Miss sweat. Dr. Howard you have five minutes. Good morning chairman adams and Ranking Member burn and chairman scott and Ranking Member fox. My name is john howard and im the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and health which is part of the health and Human Services. Im pleased to provide information about the covid19 response activities undertaken by nosh by the past few months. To date 1. 6 million cases of covid19 have been reported to cdc. Many of these cases are in working age adults. For example, as of today, may 28th, there have been 62,690 cases of covid19 among Health Care Workers. With 294 deaths. However, the total number of Health Care Worker cases is likely to be an underestimate due to Data Collection challenges arising from the pandemic. Currently cdc and nosh are actuallily working at capturing occupational data. A new form released on may 5th added workplace exposures for Health Care Workers and workers in other Critical Infrastructure industries. States have been asked to start using this new form by may 15th. Acts by norb is part of the response to covid19 fall into three main categories. First protective devices. Through the National Personal Protective Laboratory they are responsible for testing and certifying respiratory devices and including respirator, the most common is n95. During the Global Supply shortage, nosh and cdc have taken steps to increase the supply of available certified respirators by one supporting respirator approval holders to increase ongoing production, two, quickly developing applications for approval, three, providing up to date guidance, especially with regard to respirators made by non to expand the range of respirators norb worked with fda on the emergency use authorizations which can significantly expand the inventory of respirators available in Health Care Setting by using the [ inaudible ] or papers, and respirators and other approved face piece respirators be side the n95 that had not been cleared for use in Health Care Settings. Second permitting the use of stockpiled respirator that had exceeded the shelf life and three approved under the performance standards in other countries and four permitting to reuse of certain decontaminated filtering face piece respirators. Second federal survey support for health departments. Nosh deployed to 13 states and 18 poultry and 11 beef and five poultry processing workplaces representing 15 separate companies. The number of cases in of covid19 in Meat Processing is significant. Nosh has reviewed plant facilities and operation and cdc ep deemyologist and locals from state and local Health Care Departments and control plans through various methodology. A typical site visit examines multiple features of the plants operations. Third, guidance. Nosh has through the Emergency Operation center at cdc worked with our Partner Agencies including osha, the department of agriculture and the department of transportation to produce numerous guidance documents and fact sheets for employers and workers in various industries and occupations. For example, cdc and osha have coauthored interim guidance for the meat and poultry packing industry and guidance for manufacturing workers and employers. Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in todays hearing. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much. I think were going to go vote and come right back. A call for vote so were going to go in voting rotations until we get further information. Im on that first rotation, so mrs. Scott, will you well thats what i was trying to do. We apologize. Were hoping to go vote all at the same time but apparently we dont have permission to do that yet. First question will be the gentleman from california, mr. Tackano. Thank you mr. Chairman. And thank you chairwoman adams for organizing this critical hearing on the need to protect workers from coronavirus. The role of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is to, quote, ensure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, end quote. During this country pandemic were nearly 1. 5 Million People have been infected with covid19 and nearly 100,000 people in this country have died. Osha has completely abandoned its responsibilities and is not holding up to its mission. The general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and health act requires employers to provide employees with, quote, a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm, end quote. And based on my review of the nearly 5,000 covid19related complaints filed by workers it is evident that Many Employers are not making goodfaith efforts to protect their workers. Miss sweat, is osha prepared to conduct mandatory onsite inspections in response to worker complaints that allege Serious Health violations, not just for those complaints that result in a fatality . Yes. Osha is working proactively since the beginning of february to address the covid19 hazard. We have, as you said, over 5,000 complaints and our inspectors are investigating all of them. Where they are getting information from employers, that is not adequate, they are opening investigations. So yes, the agency has been doing its job. Since the beginning of this pandemic. Do you have enough inspectors to be able to do this in a timely manner . I think folks know that weve been actively trying to hire investigators since august of 2017. Were appreciative of congress providing us more funding so that he with could hire 50 this year. Until march of this year, we were in an unprecedented competition with the private sector to find and hire adequate workers. This is a highly stilled profession and we have been trying to get folks to come in and serve the mission of the agency. It is been something that is priority of mine since i started in july of 2017. But it was very challenging with record low unemployment numbers to get people to come in with the skills that we need. So, yes, we are pursuing more inspectors if i may. Excuse me. How many workers do you need and how many positions remain unfilled . Well we have 50 that are funded by congress this year that were trying to fill. Even in the midst of this pandemic. We are actively recruiting folks to come and work for us. And were seeing results. So we will work as hard as we can and as diligently as possible to hire those folks and get them through our process and get more people to have more boots on the ground. Miss sweat, as the lead agency how will osha enforce National Policies for each agency that you work with and make sure rules are implied and followed uniformly from facility to facility . Well, i think the question is about our engagement with our federal partners. Yes. And our folks are on about ten forward task forces related to covid specifically. Were engaged with nosh and cdc to write the guidance documents that youve seen. The most important lately is the meat packing guidance and were working on more as we identify industries that need to understand what we are requiring and we will continue to do that to the best of our ability. Miss sweat, just recently i im looking at the clock. Okay. All right. Rather than forcing oshas rule, the Trump Administration planned for opening up america again attempts to shift Workplace Safety preparedness to the states while highlighting the states responsibility for the health and safety of workers in critical industries. Miss sweat, was osha consulted in preparing this plan . All of those plans go through clearance and i would say that they may be talking about the state and local Health Authorities but oshas in approximately 26 states and then there is 22 states with state specifically on trumps plan to open up america again, was os osha consulted in preparing this plan. I believe osha participated in the clearance plan. You dont know for sure. I believe that we did, yes. Does this approach side line oshas role for protecting workers . No, i do not believe it does. Even though it highlights the states responsibilities. It does not deemphasize osha. I do not think so. Is this plan consistent with the osha act. As i said, federal osha exists in specific states and then there are state plans. Of which we provide grant money to. So where we are in jurisdiction, we will be in enforcement mode and doing our job. I do not believe that plan changes our obligations. Thank you. I can come work the clock. Gentleman from alabama, thank you, mr. Chairman. First of all, thank you fog br here. You heard me cite from the broerm administration and i want to ask you a simple question how is osha response similar or different than taken by the Obama Administration in the h1n1 pandemic. We have followed almost to the tee. It is important to get the message out. We started as early as january with the safety and Health Topics page and provided general guidance for all industries so they could plan to protect their workers and as the pandemic has spread we have provided industry guidance for very specific industries and i think were doing what we are supposed to do. Enforcement, compliance assistance and training and education of everyone that will come to us and work with us on our guidance. And i dont think that weve diverted from what the plan was with h1n1. Can you elaborate on how osha has responded to emergency workplace hazards and why the agency used compliance initiatives coupled with enforcement of existing standards as effective measures to respond quickly during a pandemic. Thank you. Would y i would like to say since i started in july of 2017, natural disasters, hurricanes, typically in those situations we suspend enforcement. In this instance we stayed in enforcement mode and use all of the enforcement tools available to us. One of those is the investigation for complaints as weve noted we received over 5,000 complaints and the approach that weve taken and this gets us into the employer almost immediately, puts them on notice that someone has said there is a problem and that we are following up. It is one of the fastest ways to achieve resolution in the situation to get the worker on or the employer on notice and the worker out of the hazard. Thank you. Dr. Howard, what resources has nosh developed to educate workers on how best to keep workplaces safe and do you anticipate to continue to update this information . Well let me take the second question. The answer is definitely yes. Our guidance changes rapidly. And i always tell people, dont print out cdc guidance from your printer because it may be out of date the next time you go to the website. This is a rapidly evolving situation. So our guidance changes pretty much every week and sometimes every day. The first question, we do a lot of educational guidance with regard to both these congregate working situations which are as highest risk such as a nursing home, a meat packing plant, a situations in which commerce occurs, where you have a worker and a customer close together. So we are doing a lot to educate the worker and the employer on these situations. Good. So miss sweat, let me go back to you for a second. Were seeing a lot of businesses reopen. Which i want to say is a very good thing. So how does osha plan engage with employers and workers as dr. Howard said to ensure successful Workplace Safety outcomes. Were going to continue providing guidance and as folks look to reopen, we will be working or we are actually working on reopening guidance so that when employers are looking at what theyre going to do to protect their workers we could explain how that intersects with our existing standards and regulations and what they need to do in order to be in compliance as they go forward. But the existing guidance that we have that weve worked with nosh and others really does provide a very productive road map for what employers should be doing as they look to reopen their businesses. And doctor howard, i think you kind of alluded to this earlier, let me go back to you this about this. But cdc and the rest of us are learning about this disease literally something new every day. So as you issue new guidance youre taking into account what cdc and other people are telling you . But as you said early it is happening so rapidly, you just dont print it out. How difficult does that make it for both of you to actually try to come up with a, quote, standard as opposed to a guidance. I think it is very difficult. Guidance is an easier pathway based on the best professional judgment and hopefully the best science that we have. And it can be easily done, although the review process is long and detailed as it should be. But when we learn something new, that guidance can be changed almost instantaneously. And the case of the meat packing guidance, which we and osha put together, one of the big issues now is establishment level testing. Well that is not really something that we put in the current edition of the guidance but we are beginning to think more seriously about how do you that. Because as we know many meat packing processing plants are doing that kind of testing. So were beginning to think about that. So in the next iteration of our guidance we may have more information about testing. Thank you. And i yield back. Thank you. The gentle lady from georgia mrs. Mcbeth. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you for convening this hearing this morning. Thank you to both of our witnesses, we appreciate you being here. Over the last three months we have watched as the covid19 coronavirus has made its devastating impact on this nation. 100,000 americans have died from this disease. And the magnitude of loss is simply staggering for. For those that weve lost and millions of americans that we have lost someone, we continue to mourn. In this time of crisis weve seen time and time again that every day heroes simply live among us and from every part of our communities. Frontline Health Care Providers working around the clock to treat our families, first responders, Grocery Store workers, essential employees and delivery workers have all answered the call to ensure that all americans can have access to vital services, and goods during this period. We have seen outbreaks in meat packing plants. Covid wards filled with Health Care Workers and essential employees and yet there is no Infectious Disease standard for these workers. My colleagues and i are committed to strengthening protections for these workers and i was pleased to join chairman scott and other Committee Members as an original cosponsor of the covid19 every Worker Protection act. This bill strengthens osha protections by creating an Emergency Temporary Standard for frontline workers. While considering the constraints that have been placed on employers during this crisis, however, this legislation is not necessary for osha to act. Miss sweat, my question is for you. As you know, the following h1n1 pandemic, osha began work in earnest on inspectious disease standards yet three and a half years into this administration and 100,000 american deaths into this pandemic, please explain why the osha Infectious Disease standard is still languishing on the longterm regulatory agenda. What i can explain is that osha has prioritized the protection of Health Care Workers. If you look at the guidance and the information we sent out, were very concerned about access to respirators for these individuals and issued no less than five enforcement guidance documents to ensure that our frontline Health Care Workers were given the best access to respirators they would have. And it languished on the agenda of the Previous Administration for eight years. Now if the permanent standard had been put into effect, would it have provided osha with additional tools to deal with the pandemic . Osha is using the existing tools to address the concerns that are related to Health Care Workers and all workers with this pandemic. But does osha intend to resume work on this standard, on the standards that youre talking about. I think were getting close to this is in litigation and i cannot comment further. So then all right. So then basically i see that youre still moving forward full steam ahead with oshas treat care standard. Is that really a good way to be spending your time during this unprecedented crisis . Our folks were able to multitask and we were able to complete that standard. This work is very dangerous work and it is an important standard for us to address. That has been languishing on the regulatory agenda for 20 years. Well it is apparent that you would have had more resources if you had not cut oshas standards by 10 in 2017. So given the crisis would you consider a significant increase in osha regulatory budget helpful to you . I think that this congress has increased our budget and we will use those dollars wisely. Ill ask the question, when is your next plan of action for that standard and when do you expect to have a proposed rule. You could give us a date or a month or a time. For which standard. For your the proposed standards that youre already using. The regulatory agenda is speaks for itself. Okay. Thank you. I have no further questions. Thank you very much. Im going to yield now to the gentle lady from North Carolina, Ranking Member of education and labor dr. Fox, youre recognized. Thank you, madam chairman and i want to thank ow witnesses for being here today. Miss sweat, it is very nice to see you again. Doctor howard, very nice to see you all again. Miss sweat on march 5, 2020, six days before the World Health Organization classified covid19 as a pandemic, Committee Democrats sent a letter to secretary of labor scalia demanding that osha immediately issue an Emergency Temporary Standard for covid19. Since march 5th a great deal has changed in the Scientific Understanding of covid19 and effective safety protocols in combatting workplace exposure to the coronavirus. You could explain the rational behind the safety workplace guidance of osha that the safety guidance has issued to date and whether this approach has been effective . I do believe that this approach has beenective. We started with our general industry guidance and provided as much information as we have available and we have since brought on more industry specific guidance. We have manufacturing, construction, Meat Processing, it is been a way for us to, as we learn more about the virus and spread, for us to really dig into the specific places and put out better guidance for employers and then weve also managed to take these guidance documents and break them into usable pieces for workers and translated almost everything that we have into spanish and some of our materials is on about 12 other languages. Thank you. Miss sweat, Committee Democrats and union allies have been circulating an untruthful talking point which is echoed in various Media Outlets including the Washington Post that osha has been, quote, missing in action, end quote. When it comes to protecting works from covid19, do you believe the administrations critics and their media allies undermine Workplace Safety when they misleading claim that osha is neglecting its responsibilities that employers are willfully ignoring safety in workplaces and workers have few if any protections under the law. Dr. Fox, thank you very much for highlighting this. I felt so strongly about the accusations that i wrote a letter to the Washington Post refuting those assertions and they printed it. Im lappy happy to provide that for the record. I think it would be useful if we put that into the record. I want to add to that, that one of our colleagues earlier said that the absence of the rules that the democrats want means that there is nobody out there protecting the health and safety of workers. It is an abysmal misunderstanding of how the private workplace operates and that is that every employer wants his or her workers kept safe. They are their most valuable assets. And we hear that accusation over and over and over on this committee and again it is very clear that they have no concept of what happens in the private working sector. Dr. Howard, since beginning of the covid19 pandemic, nosh and the cdc have updated guidance as the outbreak has developed and as more is learned about the coronavirus. What process does nosh use to update or change its recommendations and what factors did the agency take into account when considering updates to its guidance . Well, thank you very much for that question. There is a lot of our guidance both nosh guidance as well as cdc guidance coming from our Emergency Operations senor. In fact if i printed it all out there would be a stack very high here. And the primary drivers for guidance are stakeholder need, perceived issues related to the virus itself, and what were seeing as the situation evolves. So it is a very responsivetype process to what is happening on the ground. So i would sum up by saying that it is probably the most responsive guidance machinery that ive ever seen at cdc. Well thank you very much and thank you for what youre doing, what you and your colleagues are doing. Because we know you are focused on the health and safety of American Workers. And miss sweat, i appreciate you emphasizing that in your first comments. I have another question for you. On april 8th osha issued a statement reminding employers it is illegal to retal ate against workers because they report unsafe and unhealthful working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. What protections do workers have under the osha act against unlawful retaliation and how is the agency responding to whistleblower complaints during the pandemic. This is very important work at the agency and we have 23 Whistleblower Statutes that were in charge of. What we see with covid19 is mostly 11c which is in the health and safety act. What i would like to say is that the agency and its whistleblower investigators have achieved reinstatement of workers. They have seen letters of reprimand removed just based on a phone call as we initiate the investigation. And, in fact, we have reports of businesses understanding and changing their structure so that they are not retal ating and encouraging the reporting of health and safety concerns. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Fox. I want to recognize now miss jan pol on mute. Thank you very much, madam chair. I hope you can hear me okay and very much appreciate this hearing. Yes, maam. I think it 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 the vietnam during world war i and it is more than all of the wars combined since world war ii. So i think what were talking about is something extremely unprecedented that requires our complete attention and devotion. What happens when an agency fails the people it is supposed to protect . People suffer and people die. People like tyson fresh meats beef packaging worker guadalupe oliveira who loved to travel to National Parks with his wife. Amazon warehouse worker hairy sent who died on his 27th wedding anniversary. 28yearold Mental Health counselor James Simpson whose own experiences in foster care led him to work as a counselor for troubled teens and transit worker and father of three scott ryan who coached his kids in baseball and wrestling. These workers covid19 after fay serving their communities during this pandemic. The loss of these workers lives is an incredible tragedy and a preventable one. Osha is a division of the department of labor and is charged with that important responsibility of protecting workers and im glad to have a representative of osha here today to better understand what youve been doing to protect workers during this pandemic. So miss sweatt, as the principal Deputy Assistant secretary of osha how many workers in the United States have contracted covid19 in the workplace . We have the reports of worker injury related to covid19 and what we do instead have, and better statistics, are the fact that we have 5000 covid complaints right now. Our agency is working ex expeditiously into closing those complaints and figuring out how to provide employers and workers the best Information Available to protect themselves. So miss sweatt, are you saying that osha, which is the Agency Charge with protecting workers, is not tracking covid19 infections in the workplace . In the uk, for example, it has been carefully tracking covid19 related deaths by occupation. Are you not tracking this . Are you incapable of trucking covid19 infections from the workplace separate from complaints . I could go into a description of Record Keeping and the employers responsibility under Record Keeping but i think doctor howard might be the best person to talk about the way that covid19 is tracked. Thank you lauren, yes, at cdc as i mentioned in my testimony, we have been Getting Better at tracking occupation and industry for covid19 cases. We have a new case report form that we are hoping that the states will start using. We asked them to start using it on the 15th of may. In which there are specific fields that cant be filled out, delineate the occupation and the industry of that worker is. We have done more in the area of surveillance for a Health Care Worker occupation, and were beginning to do that for meat poultry and chicken processing workers also. What we have received funding from the congress recently to modernize Data Collection at cdc for these types of things and im happy to go into more detail on that. Thank you mr. Howard, i guess, you know, what i would say is may 15th is pretty late for beginning to track deaths and occupational deaths and cases. Let me go back to miss sweatt, is it true that osha revised as previous enforcement policy for recording cases of coronavirus stating that under oshas Record Keeping requirements, coronaviruses a recordable illness and employers are responsible for recording cases of coronavirus . Also, is it true that osha revised estate of collection policy on incidents of covid19 in the work room place on may 19th . More than two months after President Trump declared a state of emergency . So our first Record Keeping guidance, or reinforcement document, really wanted to have folks sorry for the feedback, to focus on Health Care Workers and for other employers to look at hygiene practices. So there was never a precision, if you will, or requirement, to put a Record Keeping and covid related on their box. As america looks to reopen, reissued a document that reemphasize of the employers obligation to examine covid19 workrelated and put that on their osha laws. Thank you very much, your times up. What thank you miss jayapal. Let me now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Walker. Thank you madam chair. There has been a lot of discussion today for my colleagues across the aisle pointing to an Emergency Temporary Standard as being the only solution to guarantee workplace protection, which completely overlooks the significant burden that will replace Small Businesses that are already struggling, as most of the country can see. Small businesses, in my district in across america, have been shattered due to the extended closures because of covid19. I speak to Small Businesses literally every day who are trying to hang in there to make tough decisions just to keep their doors open. Imposing restrictive and regulations with simply create additional barriers. My question miss sweatt, if i can start with you, you mentioned in your testimony that important work osha is doing in conduction with the cdc to issue industry specific guidance to ensure worker safety. Just yesterday when i was looking through the cdc website, i was very encouraged to find detailed guidance for various industries ranging from the retail to the airline industry. Can you expand on why it is important to issue guidance taylor to address the unique challenges of each industry as opposed to the one size fits all regulation covering all industry . Thank you congressman. Yes, i think its very important that were able to take our general industry guidance and put it into the specific industries because they are different. Construction can be outside and inside, manufacturing is mostly inside so there is a variety of social distancing issues that folks based. If i can comment briefly on the Small Business aspect of your 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 safety and health and there is a fire wall between the osha enforcement side of the house. Weve seen dramatic improvement and results from Small Businesses utilizing the onset consultation program. Using the right title, doctor howard, if i can ask you something, how often does the cdc and osha receive new data as soon constantly so that one question. The second part is, what is the likelihood that regulation published as soon as tomorrow would be applicable or relevant even four to six weeks from now . Regarding the first question, you know, as i said this is a highly evolving situation and we get new data every day, not only from the Surveillance System that we have in place in the ones that we are developing but also from a number of these industries that you are talking about. I cant speak to the issue of regulation because cdc does not do regulation. I want to swing that part over back to miss sweatt, do you have anything to weigh on the question . I would just agree with doctor howard that this is rapidly evolving and our folks are tracking this. They are working 24 7 to provide the best Information Available. I know under the osha has been issued, it must be replaced with a permanent standard, i believe the timeline is within six months using the customary rulemaking process which includes gathering state coordinate through Public Comment as well as hearings. Miss sweatt, can you tell me the average amount of time it takes to get the unnecessary data and evidence to publish the permanent standard . According to a gao report, osha takes eight to 15 years to propagate the standard. Would you say an abbreviated rulemaking process would require Additional Resources that could be used to enforce existing guidelines to protect workers in order to publish the rule within the six month timeframe . I do think we are working around the clock to provide the Information Available, to make Information Available and work towards protecting workers and the other piece of the rulemaking issue is we do find that its very important to get the most robust comments during our making process. I think its clear for all of us that this is still a learning process, we want to be diligent but i would hope that we can all agree that osha and cdc resources are best spent on assisting American Workers and businesses maintaining safe workplaces rather than complying with more bureaucratic demands. With that, i yield back. Madam chair. Thank you mister walker. Let me yield to the west gentlewoman from pennsylvania. Thank you madam chair, id like to address some comments of my colleagues across the aisle, mr. Burn. The problem with sentencing witnesses on issues before this and other committees is that we seem to be mired in lawsuits brought by both sides of the aisle, which could basically bring a halt to the very important work done by these committees. Also, its usually on advice of counsel that a witness instructed not to speak on a matter in litigation. This process, just allows an administration witness to pick and choose which question shes willing to answer. At further like to comment on mr. Burnss remarks. He h1n1 killed fewer than 13,000 people in a year. Covid has killed 100,004 months. To say that we should not have a standard on the basis of h1n1 is also a false comparator. With that, doctor howard, i have a question for you. A large survey by the American Nurses association indicates that where facilities are reusing and decontaminating respirators, 54 of nurses believe it is unsafe to use a decontaminated respirator n95 mask. A Different Survey found a quarter, 25 of respondents, had to use a socalled decontaminated respirator with confirmed covid19 patients. Is there solid evidence that decontaminated n95 respirator masks are safe for Health Care Workers to use and our decontaminating respirator masks as protective as new ones . In preventing infections. Thank you for that question. Im aware of those surveys and i understand admitting a Health Care Worker myself. I think one of the issues are like to emphasize at the getgo is a decontamination of a n95 respirator is not the first step in optimizing the use of respirator for Health Care Workers. It is literally the last step. Every other type of respirator that we recommend in health care be used before you decide to decontaminate your supply of n95s. The science about the contamination is relatively new and i mean very new. Manufacturers would take exception to the idea of decontaminating and n95. What we recommend in terms of a hospital that is planning to do this is to check with the manufacturer. There are over 500 models of the n95 and each of them are constructed a little differently, different material, they have different configurations and its important that you identify with a manufacturer, when you think is going to happen to this particular model that we are using if we use vapors, i didnt peroxide as a decontamination that third . So again, its the last step in the hierarchy of controls, ppe is always a last app and amongst ppe mob optimization procedures, it is literally the last step so take it very carefully, check with the manufacturer and check with the companies that are planning to decontaminate you respirator, have they done testing . One, that the respirator survive, the elastic bands etc and to does it kill the virus . Thank you very much for that very complete answer. You have answered my other questions i was going to ask you. Miss sweatt, in your march 19th letter to chairman scott, representative adam, as you stated that your temporary standard is not needed to protect Health Care Workers or other workers because the Health Care Industry fully understands the gravity of the situation and is taking the appropriate step to protect its workers but we know that close to 62,000 Health Care Workers have been infected with covid19 and 291 are dead as of last count. I suspect that some hospitals are safer than others, would you agree with me on that for workers . You dont have an opinion one way or another . I know we have two Excellent Health care institutions in my pennsylvania district and have taken worker safety very, very seriously. On the other, hand we have another hospital where employees have reached out to me with deep concerns about their lack of ppe, the need to reuse surgical masks, paper masks like the one im wearing now over and over again. Wouldnt an osha standard ensure that all of our Health Care Workers be kept safe while caring for the rest of us . Well i think if you are talking about respirators, respiratory protection is already required and so it really becomes access to respirators and i think doctor howard could talk to some of the things that they are doing related to respiratory protection but we did early on was address the need to slow the bernoulli. One of the requirements and our respirators standard is an annual fifth test. We ensure that the fifth test could occur while still protecting markers and not destroying the respirator, which is what the annual fit test would require otherwise and so weve been very concerned about that since day one and weve issued five guidance documents related to respirators and their use in order to excuse me, i would note that this is not responsive to the question i asked but with that, we are out of time. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for miss wild. The gentleman from virginia, mr. Cline, you are recognized. Thank you madam chair, thank you to the witnesses for being here today. Doctor howard, you mentioned you have significantly increased work hours in order to triple the rate from 30 to 100 decisions per month. That is a significant increase and i appreciate the steps you are taking to expand your workload during this time. Miss sweatt, thank you for aligning how osha has been responding to this virus and how frequently you are issuing guidance. It is imperative for a time like this that osha is able to remain responsive to the new discoveries through the ability to revise guidance. Its clear that osha is working hard to ensure employees are protected and that their guidance is accessible to things like covid19, tip of the day, in the top ten list of actions employers and workers can take to prevent covid19 infections. Im going to ask miss sweatt, back on april 16th, osha issued on an armed enforcement policy advising the safeties compliant agency good faith efforts to comply with safety and help standards during the coronavirus pandemic. Can you elaborate on this policy through what kinds of factors ocean will consider while evaluating an employees efforts and how employers to document these efforts to comply . Yes, thank you very much for the question. That was really focused on a lot of the medical issues and medical requirements and our existing standards and a lot of the people who are providing the services to workers were no longer able to do that because of shelter in place issues and so sprawl montreal, those things were not going to be available to the employer so as they look to reopen and they look to reschedule that, if and when an ocean specter comes onside, they need to explain what their plan is Going Forward to catch up on the requirements that they have to protect the workers under the standards. As social continues to revise its guidance based on the newest information surrounding the coronavirus, how are you working to inform businesses about these changes and moving forward will osha consider industry specific webinars and offer other opportunities for industries to ask direct questions . Thank you very much for the question, we have had a very active engagement with the unions and with stakeholders. Our focus has done a variety of webinars, i have compliance individuals have talked about almost 4000 outreach activities that theyve already done in the last two or three months so we are actively engaged on all fronts of what the agency does and as we continue our work through the summer and into the fall, our focus will be available and we will give the best information that we can. I think one of the most important things that we can see immediately is a dramatic increase to the number of people who visited our website, to look our guidance documents and so i think people are really, truly looking for answers. Thank you. Doctor howard, the fda issued an emergency use authorization permitting the use of certain respirators certified under other countries Safety Standards during the pandemic. How is niosh working with the fda to ensure the efficacy of these respirators . Thank you for that question. I worked very closely with the center at fda that is responsible for approving respirators. We look with fda to the standards that that particular manufacturer and that country are using, there are some International Standards that the eu has for instance that many chinese manufacturers use. We work with fda to figure out which of the case n95 they are called coming from china, meet the International Standard and they are included on the fdas you way. You mention this earlier but you have the opportunity to expand on it a little bit. What Additional Resources has niosh created for employees and workers on how to prevent covid19 in the workplace . One of the things that we do, we do field Technical Assistance visits with other centers at cdc. As i mentioned, weve done 34 sites for beef, pork and chicken processing and weve had excellent, cooperation from the Plant Operators and from the Companies Involved even though they are dealing with very difficult situations. As you know what, 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 in a very labor intensive operation like me processing. Those field investigations have been educational for us and they have been educational also for the Plant Operator and the companies. Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to now recognize the gentlelady from michigan, mitt stevens. You are recognized. Thank you madam chair and i join my colleagues in mourning the staggering loss of 100,000 americans to this wretched disease. Miss sweatt, its known that you oversee an agency with a budget of 552 million dollars, is that correct . And you oversee about 2300 employees . About 2000, yes maam. Great. Are you currently working from home . No. Youre going in every day . How many, i guess, how many calls our meetings you take a day . I have to imagine its quite a few. Yes. Are most of them just meetings that have been scheduled . Are they kind of reactive meetings or or are there specific calls or, you know, outreach that you are doing that its sort of unprompted . I think my schedule is a combination of activities related to, we have a weekly meeting with all of our senior staff and regional administrators. I meet weekly with the director as we are able to do that. Have you spoken to any essential workers . Have you picked up the phone and called any of your employers that are deemed essential during your time . I know, as a member of congress, that its sort of unprompted but the first call i made when this pandemic was declared was to our Grocery Stores because i just thought, holy smokes, youre now all of a sudden an essential service, just almost overnight. How are you getting prepared . Have you made any calls like that . Yes, weve had calls with the unions, weve had called with stakeholders, weve performed women ours. I personally done these things myself as has a staff. We continue our you have an Outreach Office . You have an external affairs or reach office . We have a Communications Office but we also have a director of compliance of state programs. Weve had every other week i dont buy you anytime, excuse me, i just invite you anytime to call the incredible grocers in michigan and Nursing Homes for that matter. I mean these hardworking individuals every single day i know they absolutely welcome a phone call from you at any time. Doctor howard, thank you so much for your expertise and your testimony today. I think last month you might have seen, i introduced legislation to create an Inter Agency Task force that would bring together experts from across our government to establish the scientifically based guidance and recommendations to our industries. I heard you in one of the previous responses that you see the cdc changing only on a weekly basis. How is that being communicated in the how are you with niosh working on an inter agency basis to communicate these changing science based facts that are becoming all of the coronavirus . Well our chief method of Communications Office is to the cdc website on coronavirus. The interaction with other federal agencies are chief fully osha, the department of agriculture, which weve had a much closer relationship with lately in the food safety and inspection service, fsif. Wherever the particular workplace our industry is, we tend to reach out to that particular federal agency that often regulators that are responsible in that area, the stakeholders, the unions involved in the Employers Association that service that industry. Great, thank you doctor howard. Miss sweatt, michigan has been pretty hard hit and particularly in our Nursing Homes by this coronavirus pandemic. Ive heard complaints as you were citing from businesses in my district that have found oceans guidance sometimes confusing in vague. For example, on page ten and i read this report several times on the guidance on comparing workplace for covid19. On page ten, you state that employers should provide a face mask if feasible and available and ask a person to where it is tolerated. Why did osha issue guidance like this and why not just clearly state that masks can prevent the spread of covid19 when they are worn by workers . I would point out that this was written in early march and so the issue and thought process around face masks may have changed, but i do think that doctor howard can give you the more scientific issues around the use of face masks. Our concern here is often around respiratory protection and the use of respirators. With that, im out of time but we think our Committee Chair for holding todays hearing and will follow up on questions for the record. Thank you miss sweatt. I wanted to recognize myself now for my question. Miss sweatt, do you think that covid19 presents a grave danger to workers . I think that youre asking questions around the Emergency Temporary Standard and i cant answer that. Well im not, im simply asking if covid19, in your opinion, does it present a great danger to workers . Yes or no . I think that you are asking a question around the emergency okay youre not going to answer that. Miss sweatt, at least 200 and Health Care Workers have already died of covid19. Tens of thousands have been infected. It is covid19 a great danger to Health Care Workers . Can you give me a yes or no . Madam chair, what i will tell you is that osha had prioritize Health Care Workers and identify the issue of respirators since the very beginning of this pandemic. As ive said before, we issued five guidance documents in an attempt to ensure that the burn rate on respirators does not impact these workers. Is it a grave danger . Yes or no . Madam chair, im not going to answer yes or no. Let me move on, i dont want to use it my time like that. Doctor howard, would you answer yes or no for me please, you think covid19 presents a grave danger to workers . Yes i do. All right. Let me ask you doctor howard, lets focus for a moment on the meat packing workers. Is covid19, in your opinion, a grave danger for meatpacking workers . Yes i do. What about Health Care Workers . Yes i do. Miss sweatt, can you answer me honestly, if you were a worker in a Meat Processing plant or nursing home, would you feel safer knowing there was an enforceable osha standard in the agency stood ready to Issue Citations if safe working standards were being violated or would you feel safer knowing only that youre employer just had to make a good faith effort to comply with voluntary guidance . What i can tell you is that the agency has focused on the Meat Processing industry. We have over 58 complaints or inspections active currently and we have had daily phone calls with fsifs and doctors howards office to address the concerns around meatpacking. Maam, i just want to know if you were a worker, would you feel safer knowing that there was an enforceable standard, osha standard, and that the agency stood prepared to Issue Citations is safe working standards were being violated or would you feel safer knowing that the only thing your employ had to do was just to make a good faith efforts . Can you give me a yes or no . I think that im going to tell you that the agency is doing everything it can related to the specific industry to provide the best available let me move on. Miss sweatt, despite voluntary osha and cdc guidance and the president ial executive orders conditions and me plans are getting worse. Now you can say yes or no to that but we got all of the data, it comes on tv, every day we see the people are not only coming down with the disease but they are dying in these plants. Over the past months, according to the Washington Post, the number of infections tied to three of the countrys biggest Meat Processing, smith field and jbs has gone to just over 3000 to more than 11,000. Worker deaths have tripled, surging from 17 to at least 63. Given those numbers, would you say that your current strategy to ensure the safety of Meat Processing workers is working . I have to be very careful here because we do have open inspections and investigations in meatpacking facilities so i think to answer your previous question at this no, i dont want to ask you answer the previous question. You cant give me a yes or no . The answer is we stand ready if we find violations in our investigations i only have 15 seconds. The only way to accomplish social distancing in Meat Processing is to slow down the production lines, we should also be willing to order the plan to do so. Would you order the plan to do so . Lines we did not within the jurisdiction of the agency but what they can do is in our guidance. Okay, thats fine. No you wouldnt do it, okay. And how many meat were poultry processing pants has osha done a physical inspection. How many physical inspections have you done . Within the last week, i believe its 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 our inspection. Doctor howard, let me ask you you said that your testimony discussed inspections of 34 meat packing facilities in 12 states, given the difficulty of redesigning meatpacking facilities, would they be far more effective to keep the virus out of the plane by requiring regular testing for covid19 . Testing is a complex issue and right now, cdc doesnt have the established wide guidance to give an employer whos interested in doing testing. Now were thinking about that, we have a lot of information that were putting together and we may be coming out with more guidance on that issue but right now we dont have enough information to recommend establishment wide. Now those are asymptomatic workers i apologize, my time is up. I have to now yield. Thank you sir what. You are recognized sir. I appreciate it. Thank you for being here today. My colleague from michigan, miss stevens talked about masks and you said that was early in march, things have changed and we are following this one. Businesses out there are trying to make it, they want workers to be healthy and safe so if things change, how is osha being proactive and how one is the best way if im a business person in kentucky trying to run a factory, whats the best way for me to know the best practices as this changes every day, the updates . We can update our website very quickly obviously, so our documents go up we put them on the website. We pushed out as many social media platforms as we have available and weve seen a dramatic increase in the traffic to our website in addition to our newsletters so we think employees and workers are seeking the best information possible. A lot of our website also links to our federal partners in niosh and cdc, we also have an abundance of guidance based on what they are finding scientifically and medically. We are working as quickly as possible to provide the best information to everyone. Thank you. Doctor howard, i know the fda, because ive oversight it fda committees in my assignment, sir respirators are certified for other countries and use, so how is your organization, niosh working with fta to make sure the are safe and eligible to be used . Thank you for that question. As i mentioned, we worked very closely with fta on these emergency use authorization is that they publish so awe laboratory looks at the fifth of the respirator and the filtration capability of the respirator. Those are the two main attributes of respirator that we are thinking is very important. A lot of these international respirators are made internationally in china, for instance, use era loops. That doesnt give you the best fit for instance. We have to look at both the filtration efficiency and weve tested some of those respirators. They dont come to the 95 filtration efficiency that iran n95 is so we work with fda, we get states for instance are buying respirators from china, they send it to us for a valuation, we perform the evaluation and give them the results. We also share that with fda, fda decides what models theyre going to put on their you weigh based on our testing. Your looks like this and the rest of us . It ties behind the head and the two big issues for protecting the lungs for atmosphere is the fifth, how tight the fit is, so you dont get any leakage and that is hard with the ear lobes. The other is the material itself that filters the particles so filtering and fit, those are the two big things that we test for. Doctor bree sean who was a sergeant in another committee, we were talking they can cough without having to corrupt and the problem comes out of the size and its probably creating a mole hazard sometimes, you have to be careful with that. Another question, i know that sometimes you get conflicting information, businesses do, employers do in not in this specifically but i know that there are other areas if you comply with one and you see, you are violating another agency. Miss sweatt, doctor howard, as more businesses are reopening and i heard from employees in kentucky on how critical it is to ensure the safety guidance is consistent across the federal government and that agencies are now providing conflicting information. Can you both elaborate on how you Work Together in court the Public Health agency during the pandemic . Ill take it first, we work very closely with osha to make sure that does not happen. Thats the worst outcome that we, as one government, can make its to have conflicting information. Any information that involves the workplace, we run by osha for their comments. I would say we have an excellent working relationship with our federal partners especially at niosh and cdc. I know our folks are on the phone with doctor howard folks all the time but i do believe, in the response of this pandemic, youve seen in all of government process here. Anything that we put out has also been vetted to make sure that we are not in opposition with any of our federal partners. Thank you. I appreciate the hard work you guys are doing and i know we are all concerns, both sides, that people show up in a place where they can be safe and to work and i know youre trying to put that out in an ever changing environment. I know businesses are trying to figure out how to do it in an everchanging environment and we all need to Work Together and pull together to make this work and thank you for your efforts. I appreciate it very much. I yield back. Thank you mister guthrie. Let me recognize the gentleman from connecticut, mr. Courtney. Thank you madam chairman for holding this hearing today. This saturday, in london, connecticut, theres going to be a Memorial Service for all the grave line who are certified nurses aid to local hospitals. They are 52 years old, mother of two, grandmother of three who succumb to covid a couple of weeks ago and, again, there were stories in the human case of people who really are the good guys. She was a caregiver who treated her job as a calling, not as a job. 23 years, described as kind hearted and again just reinforces that this is not a theoretical academic issue, this is really about human beings who are doing right by all of us in terms of keeping this country Going Forward. I just want to touch base with both witnesses about the fact that this is not the first pandemic that osha has encountered. The aids hiv pandemic in the late to mid late eighties, early nineties, ocean acted and acted very swiftly to put into place well standards in terms of blood borne pathogens. My wife is a nurse practitioner, she worked at bellevue back in the eighties there and she still remembers a day where, again, you drew blood and used needles with no gloves. There was no such thing as disposable needles. Osha created, with the standard, unenforceable standard the regime that we now just sort of take for granted when we go into hospitals. Was osha wrong to institute a standard versus operating with guidelines . I believe osha follow the committee to follow that standard. Correct, it was prodding from congress had actually moved and again it wasnt a five to 20 a process. I mean, it happen in much swift your terms and again, doctor howard, did osha do the right thing by implementing a standard to deal with aids hiv . I think so and i like to point out that they followed californias lead in that area. Again, when we talk about having a standard put into place, this is not some wild unprecedented sort of notion. I mean the fact of the matter is its just part of the reality every day when people walk into doctors offices or hospitals. Again, doctor howard, your description of how to safely disinfect n95 masks, they testified to earlier, was again i think a learning experience for all of us about the fact that you got to really actually do more than just throw it in the washing machine. There are real issues that youve got to do with the right way. Why wouldnt that sort of standard be really something that would help guide a lot of employers. I will tell you, this is relevant in connecticut, which again has been very hard hit. Weve had tremendous, you know, donations from private individuals as well as fema in terms of getting masks, n95 masks. Some of them, as you point out, or different, theyre not all the same so if youre a hospital or in a nursing home trying to organize this, i mean you need, it sounds to me and based on testimony, more than just lumping them all together and disinfecting them in exactly the same fashion. So why wouldnt that be a good thing to have that more precise advice that you described out there so that employers would know that you got to do more than just treat them all the same. I certainly think the more specification that you can provide an employer, the more helpful it is to that singular workplace. The problem is we cant do guidance thats highly specific to each establishment so we have to do fairly general guidance and then look at the application, help employers both niosh, cdc and osha through their consultation service, apply those guidelines to their specific workplace. Again, having a standard says you gotta look at the manufacturer specifications when you are reused n95 masks, thats just, like you pointed out, necessary to make sure that these workers when they reuse them are actually going to be protected. I would say, one of my wifes good friends back home is a nurse at a local hospital whos been incubating Covid Patients with reused n95 masks. They were basically reusing them over a period of seven days. You could not get a more high risk situation than incubating of patient as a worker. That just shows how life and death, you know, a real standards out there so that people like don are going to be safe in terms of doing just amazing work in terms of saving lives. I yield back. Why thank you. Its a gentleman from michigan prepared to ask questions . Yes. Gentleman from michigan is recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman. Excuse me, and the, the auto gentleman from michigan, mr. Walberg, im sorry. Oh okay, im sorry. Hi tim. I yield to my esteemed colleague from michigan, walberg. And the, its good to see you. I hope you are well its been interesting to watch. Ill tell you later. Okay. Thank you mister chairman for holding this hearing and i would concur that we ought to do this regularly. Have live hearings where we are in the room. Its the best way to get the work done. I think, by now, we should be capable of handling this plus we have a lot to consider. Its good to see you back. It seems strange that you are not sitting behind me and telling me what to say what to do. I agree. You got me through well on that and im sure that you are giving it your best, best effort now where you are at. We appreciate that. Having been away for votes, i probably missed some questions that may have been asked but there are a few i wanted to ask you as well. It goes back to guidance. As we wrestle with that whole idea, i know during the time we Work Together on what rules needed to be in place and what laws have to be in place and how you can work in a system that mandated to be loose on your feet as it were to deal with situations that came up. Whether it was a mining situation, manufacturing situation are now of course a hostile situations that are going on. Let me ask again, why the agency believes its better to issue guidance as opposed to new regulation response to covid19 spread and if you could also provide a real world example . Real world example of where your agency would have been delayed in its response if you had a hard and fast rule law in place. I appreciate the kind words and i share the sentiment. I think what we have seen over the last three months is, as i said, we are at 5000 complaints related to covid and the agency has taken almost the same number of complaints that are, unfortunately, normal safety and Health Concerns. With the way this virus has changed and our understanding of it, our guidance documents have been able to address what we know today. We should construction guidance on monday. We have more coming out maybe even as i speak. You know, weve gone from the idea of not Wearing Masks to now everyone, almost everyone in this room, Wearing Masks and thats a two month evolution of thought process. We are able to look at what is happening and respond and put that information out as expeditiously as possible through our website. Yet, our folks are still, as ive said, 24 7 out there, responding to covid and unfortunately responding to other safety and Health Concerns as people are returning to work, we are seeing small increase in problems related to what i would call what we do on an everyday basis related to safety and health so this is a good opportunity, i think, to remind folks that all of their obligations exist under the osha act. Employees need to be focused on those are the restart their businesses. In a Committee Democrat form held on may 14th, former assistant secretary for osha, david michaels, who i worked with extensively back then told members that if he was in charge of the agency during the covid19 pandemic he would be doing inspections of high profiled workplace and will 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 aisle that theyre union allies and their union allies that you would like to clear up . I would like to highlight one part of your question about whistleblowers. I think you could not get a better spokesperson for whistleblower protection in the secretary of labor at the white house. He pointedly said on april 9th that retaliation would not be tolerated. The whistleblower investigators have tackled the almost 2000 covid and complaints that we have received and the other 2000 complaints that weve received from our other 23 or 22 statutes. We have seen success with reinstatement of whistleblowers, we have seen, as i said, letters of reprimand removed and weve seen actual policy changes by businesses to ensure that workers have the right to express concerns about their safety and health in the workplace. Im not really sure where people are not seeing that message but truly the secretary of labor, theres no Higher Authority in my world from the white house, to determine and determine lee say that this is not acceptable behavior. Appreciate that, thank you. I yield back. Thank you. General lady from oregon, miss bonamici. Thank you to the chair and the Ranking Member and also to our witnesses today. We, just yesterday, in the United States passed 100,000 deaths and those arent just numbers, they are real people. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families but we have to keep in mind, under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and health, have an obligation to prevent workers from Hazardous Conditions on the job. They are falling short. Too many workers are facing risks at work. In the absence of leadership from the agencies and introducing the covid19 every Worker Protection act and im pleased it was included in the heroes act and my thoughts are were are with those essential workers who are showing up every day despite the risks. The nurses, the doctors, the Grocery Store workers, the firefighters, postal employers, childcare workers, health workers, they are the heart and soul of our communities right now. They are going to help us get through this. Doctor howard, i want to ask you the cdc recently changed its guidance allowing Health Care Workers to use surgical masks rather than n95 respirators. After the cdc issued this guidance, many hospitals denied Health Care Workers access to n95s. News reports documented cases of Health Care Workers who objected to the cdc guidance and have their credentials challenged and were fired for insubordination and sentenced to die of covid19 because they lacked access to proper ppe, personal protective equipment. Doctor howard, was the change in the cdc guidance based on shortages and personal protective equipment or based on new scientific information . Thank you for that question. The answer is unequivocally it was based on a crisis strategy that we have a global shortage of the supply of n95 respirators. The signs has not changed, its only our Current Situation of supply. Thank you. Miss sweatt, you noted in your testimony that osha has a tools to protect workers from covid19 buying forcing the general to the clause and other existing osha standards. Osha has received, as you noted, it nearly 5000 complaints in referrals related to covid19 and those its my understanding from outbreaks in the workplace to a lack of access to ppe and insufficient physical distancing practices. A majority of these cases have been closed without action. Miss sweatt, how many covid19 relation citations has osha issued under the general duty cause . Sorry, at this point weve issued one citation under an existing standard and i would note that we still have six months to complete any investigation or enforcement action. I think relying on looking at citations is maybe not the best parameters here. What we are really trying to do is remove the worker from the hazard or remove the hazard from the workplace. Our priority has been that, we have been proactively working on all of those issues when we receive these complaints. Employers get information in case they are not fully aware and they are able to change their work practice where we do not find an employer who is protecting their workers, we will enforce. I have some more questions. How many covid19 related citations has osha issued under any resisting standard . As i said, weve had one in the last week and, you know, there is still a substantial amount of time within our statute of limitations. Just one and its my understanding that was for Record Keeping violation. Correct. I understand that general do the clock citation could take more time, which is why would be more efficient and effective for osha tuition Emergency Temporary Standard. In your testimony, you emphasize that oshas existing standard for sanitizer, ppe and sanitation candy sanitations be issued faster . We have to build a legal case to defend our citations and i do not believe that rushing to issue a citation is really the best effort. What are folks need to do and are doing is proactively inspect and investigate all complaints that we receive and build the appropriate legal case to defend those. To issue a citation that is not legally defensible would be irresponsible on our part. I appreciate that but in my home state of oregon, oregon osha has been more proactive. Their efforts have not been perfect but ive been calling on them to do more to protect workers. Oregon osha recently issued Health Violations and businesses in only nine days so what prevents federal osha to Issue Citations in the similar time . Nothing prevents that but what i dont think you see related to our complaints is when we provide the employer information to protect their workers and they practices change. That is one of the key elements to remove the worker from the hazard or remove the hazard. We think that there is positive action occurring when we have taken these complaints and we see an employer who is not moving to make appropriate changes, we can enforce. I also want to note, mister chairman and colleagues, this Committee Received a letter from doctor wray field dated may 20th and with that letter, doctor red field attach the table with the cdc available data on Health Care Worker infection rates. He also noted that it is likely an underestimate and not all cases are reported to the cdc. I just want to note, how challenging it is not only for you and osha to do your work but for us as policy makers to make a policy decision without good data. We my time is about to expire, but we really need good data and we dont have. It thank you mister chairman, i yield back. Thank you, the gentleman from wisconsin. Yes a couple of questions. First of all, i think things are Getting Better, part of the pardon is youre going to hear is the lack of ppe. And in my district we have some ability to make more masks for example, which is one of the big things employers will need. But i am wondering are either of your agencies doing anything, it for us may frustrates me because we should be doing more, the industry in my and getting their new machines up and running im a little bit frustrated with regard to fema, we couldve waited a little bit more, done a little bit more, are you guys doing anything in your agencies to do the ppe is available for the businesses . Or keeping track of how much we need . Or working in coordination with them . I will start, i think doctor howard has a more responsibility in this area. One thing osha has participated in the last three months is the supply chain task force. Our folks have been working with federal partners to determine how we can get more supply in the. Again, i testified previously the most important thing that we did was to create our five guidance documents to ensure that there was ppe respiratory protection available related to the burn rate in the hospitals. I will refer the doctor. Howard thank, you we work with our partners at the cdc, as part of the National ResponseCoordination Center which is run by fema. Currently, the National Stockpile is purchasing 800 million respirators on the supply side 3 am is up at 90 million respirators per month. Up to 20 million respirators a month. So we are seeing a change now from where we were three months ago. This apply is increasing. I cant say the district derby ocean in every corner of the u. S. Is the same, but the supply pipeline is increasing. How many, we masks a month do we need . That is a very difficult thing to figure out. One of the things that the nrcc is doing, the figuring out that supply chain, what is the utilization. We have a ppe burn rate calculator, which is now an app, in individual hospitals that they can used to figure out their own burn rate of ppe. We have a Monitoring System with 100 hospitals enroll to develop that National System to figure out the inventory and the utilization rate. Presumably want someone other places in hospitals . For sure, but what were talking about right now is the end 95 respirator. It is used for procedures in hospitals. How many did you think you need . You must have an idea . We are talking in the billions. 2 million, 5 million . What is your target . For the National Supply . That number i do not know. But it is in the billions. The miss sweet, thank you for being here again. How does osha help determine the risk for exposure to covid19. We have a lot of manufacturers in my district that feel that they fall into a high, medium, or low risk. What is the biggest determining factor to figuring out how close they can be throughout the day and what other factors that go into the classification . The it is the sustained contact issue. We have put out manufacturing guidelines to help folks work through the issues, its really incumbent upon the employer to do an analysis of their work practices and determine if there are changes they can make. We have a hierarchy of controls within there. Some folks find that to be tedious, but i think manufacturers, people that are trained in this area the. It is really an important part of the agency as well to have compliance assistance specialists. I have another question that just popped into my head. There is a feeling among some medical professionals that we regardless of what we do is that it will go to the population, we should protect the vulnerable, but it is inevitable that it will go through the population, the only question is how long it will take. Do you believe that or not . Five years from now, is everybody going to be touched by it or not . What do you think . That is outside of my jewish addiction. I would refer to doctor howard. Thank you. The do you want me to respond . Briefly. There is no timeline as doctor fauci has said at nih, 12 to 18 months for a vaccine. We hope for it to be sooner that would be great. But the issue about everybody getting covid19, the issue is do they all show up in the same emergency room at the same time. That is the issue is preventing the Health Care System. So you believe it is inevitable . I do not believe it is inevitable, but if everyone gets it all at once you will crash your Health Care System. Thank you very much. We let me recognize our distinguished chair for the education and labor committee, we will thanks are witnesses for being with us today. Ms. Sweat youve indicated that you are not responding to questions for the Emergency Temporary Standard. I agree with the gentleman from alabama, no good lawyer likes his client talking about issues under litigation. We but as the chair has indicated, you need a legal basis for that claim. Are you claiming legal privilege and if so which privilege . Ive been advised by Department Counsel not to answer those questions. But can you provide for the record, apparently you dont know which privilege youre using, if you could provide for the committee which legal privilege you are relying on to not answer the questions. Will you have indicated in your testimony osha considers retaliation against the workers unacceptable. How many complaints of retaliation has osha received and how many businesses have been sanctioned for retaliation . As of may 26, we have 374 whistleblower complaints for covid. There is no statue of limitations on the investigations on those. So while they are ongoing i can tell you in certain circumstances we have seen resolution almost immediately. By resolution you mean the worker got the job back . That is not a sanctioned. They shouldnt have been fired to begin with. How many businesses have been sanctioned . At this junction we have not issued any sanctions, we have seen back pay reinstatement. I think one of the more important issues is the change of approach by some of these businesses and how they address safety. We in retaliation for making a complaint, how many people have been fired . And the businesses have showed no deterrence for that action. They reinstate and they have to pay back pay. At which they owed the pay to begin with and they should not have been fired to begin with. We know there are many desks in nurse Nursing Homes, the general duty clause is usually used after death or serious injury, not for prevention. How many site visits have been conducted by oh osha for proactively other than our spawns by a death or a complaint . Everything we do is proactive. We have issued nursing home guidance. I would also point back to show everything weve done to protect the respiratory supply. How many have been proactive and not in response to a death or a complaint within your response to questions that you respond, all of oceans expectations 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. I would say if you look at what we have done in previous natural desertions or other emergency situations where we have suspended enforcement, we proactively chose not to suspend we have proactively them thats not proactive. Is osha bound by the policy to establish a new rule . The department as a whole is. So you cant establish an emergency standard without repealing to other rules . Thats a question youre trying to get on the emergency standard area. That is larger than just the agency. I have a question for doctor howard. You formally worked in california, this california have an airborne trans miscible disease standard . Which of congress would consider drafting legislation to protect war employers . We i will leave the legislating to people that do that for a living. I think it was 2013, somewhere around there. It was in development for a number of years before that. Thank you. There thank you. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Thank you madam chair. We have heard that the Trump Administration didnt act soon enough to prevent corona from entering our country, can you give some detail about the actions taken by your agency of covid19 being declared a pandemic by the w. H. O. And march 11th to ensure that Health Care Workers and other essential businesses were prepared to respond. Thank you for the question. Osha had started as early as january of this year putting information on the website to inform individuals of the pandemic. At that point was an unknown novel coronavirus. We pursued updating our safety and Health Topics page. We outlined what standards we thought employers should be aware of, what they should be in compliance with, we subsequently we gave 20 actual industry to help employers respond to this pandemic. The poultry and beef cattle industries are very big in my district and i have faith for major poultry processing facilities located my district. Two of those have been significantly affected by covid19 outbreaks, you testified that those we meatpacking and, you have been conducting site visit and conducting recommendations based on your observations, can you explain some of the Workplace Safety challenges that you observed and how businesses are implementing measures . We as they said, whether it is beef pork or chicken, these are very labor intensive activities. People are extremely close together on the production line. If the fundamental principle for protecting workers from covid19 is deceptive eight people, it is really a feasibility challenge in these Meat Processing plants. We have come up with a number of different recommendations, they fill about 15 pages of our joint cdc osha guidelines, to try to help employers figure out how they can do that and still be able to produce the food the country needs. That is a real challenge. . I think we have learned as a public, im an agriculture guy, we i knew this already, but a lot of americans have figured out that employees at Food Processing we places are very essential workers. I appreciate what you are doing there. There have been a few local hotspots in my district, in 35 counties ive probably had four counties that have had any measurable activity as far as being in a hot spot in my congressional district. Im very thankful for. That in kentucky businesses are slowly, and i cannot say this slow lionel, slowly reopening. Every employer wants safety. The cdc recommends everyone should wear masks in public settings, this would apply to businesses and their employees if they go back to work. Doctor howard, are there any circumstances in which an employee should not be Wearing Masks. There are. Some folks have preexisting respiratory conditions. Things that are over their mouth make it difficult to breathe, and they already have difficulty breathing. So putting a mask can make it more difficult. Those folks may not be able to wear a respirator. They may complain to the employer that they cannot tolerate it. Some workers are going to be in that category. What about the recommendation that some states are implementing, based on cdc recommendations, that with youth sports, young people should wear masks to play baseball in the summer. My son has a travel baseball team, the temperature gets high and they are outside, our governor came out and said those kids need to wear masks. Is that something that should be of a concern . Win they are 11 or 12 years old Wearing Masks in 100 to gary whether. The cdc is just getting into the area of sports. Both professional, amateur and childrens. We do not have a lot a guidance on that area. These are the kind of issues that we are all going to face as we approach the summer in terms of reopening. This is one of the things that we are thinking about. Thank you. We would like to thank you very much. Wed like to recognize the gentleman from michigan. Thank you so much madam chairwoman. Thanks for holding this very important hearing. The earlier, perhaps in the discussion with mr. Courtney, doctor howard, you said that during the aids crisis congress required and osha implemented a mandatory standard to protect workers during the aids crisis. Is that correct . Yes, i think it was ms. Sweat who referred to the congressional mandate at that time. So that happened. And then some of my colleagues have mentioned, quite extensively, that the Trump Administration has acted similarly to the Obama Administration during the sars outbreak. So that this is an appropriate response. Are you aware of how Many Americans died during the sars outbreak . I dont have those figures in front of me now. I will share them with you, from the cdc website. In the United States of america, eight persons were Laboratory Confirmed sars cases. And no sars related deaths in the u. S. Would you consider that to be a comparable situation for what we are going through now . I can tell you from where i stand, excuse me . I am not in the room with you, but that is a yes or no question. I have to tell you, from where i sit, the Occupational Safety administration, we are almost 5000 complaints on covid, and we are responding as rapidly as we can. I have to move on with my questions. Them and pr just reported this morning that we have had close to 300 United StatesHealth Care Workers alone killed by covid19. We have had 100,000 americans who have passed away from covid19. Ms. Sweat three quarters have been fatality investigations. To put it bluntly, osha is stepping in only one somebody has died. Every day i get calls from workers who are terrified that they will become sick in the workplaces. Many worry not for their own lives but those of their sick or elderly family members who they receive reside with and support. Which they tell those frightened workers . And those vulnerable workers . About the fact that osha refuses to issue any mandatory standard in the greatest Workplace Health care crisis in history . As ive said before, osha has existing standards to address a variety of this virus and we are enforcing where we find failure to comply. You have issued one citation in the greatest crisis, you say you are being proactive, but in fact what you are doing is the definition of reactive. You are refusing to act proactively and issue a mandatory standard of any kind during the greatest Health Care Crisis in the workplace in modern history. If you are agency inspects workplaces only after worker has died, you are not preventing worker infections. I would suggest that your agency could be acting strategically looking proactively and Industry Sectors to figure out and identify and protect those in situations of unnecessary and cruel risk. But your agency is waiting for the worst possible outcome before taking action. This is unconscionable. We let me ask a question of doctor howard. How long have you been in this field of occupational medicine yourself . Since 1981. Me and sir, have you seen a comparable situation of the scope and scale we have health risk in american workplaces during your long and distinguished career . The only comparison i can make in the 19 eighties with the human emmy no deficiency virus. Thank you for your time. I want to recognize the young gentleman from pennsylvania. Thank you. We ms. Sweat, think you for so much for ensuring compliance assistance is a priority. As a former Construction Business owner i know how important that can be. Employer employers really do want to do the right thing and they care about their employees and keep them safe. Feeling like they can ask osha for assistance to make sure that they are doing things correctly is absolutely critical. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle, they are looking to pin osha as a scapegoat. And place blame on employers. We just food for thought, that may seem like a pro worker stance but it wont be very prorogued her with a misguided targeting caused him to lose all of their jobs due to business closures. My question for you, my colleagues seem to think that the guidance you put out is optional and that employers can choose to follow them, they will argue that this is why we need to pass more laws that end up in the legal spiderweb that do not meet the needs of all industries. Do you believe that rhetoric could be more dangerous for workers if employers are misled to believe that they dont legally need to follow your got it. Thats . I think its problematic. But what we need to say here is that employers need to know and understand their obligations under the act to make a plan and determine what they need to do to protect their workers. The time to do that is now before a dramatic reopening. We talked a lot about essential workers, we have looked at a lot of these essential worker categories and tried to provide the best updated scientifically updated guidance we can. We will continue to do our work. If i can respond briefly to the previous question, osha has responded to almost 5000 covid complaints. What we are trying to achieve every day is removing the worker from the hazard or removing the hazard from the workplace. Can you tell me a little bit more about that process. How does it get evaluated, how long long does it take, how long is it determined that asha will open an investigation. What does that osha if estimation entail . The employers put on alert immediately. We understand that there could be a problem in their workplace, they have to respond to us, tell us what they are doing to resolve the complaint. If we find the resolution improper or inappropriate, or not protective of the worker we can go four and a inspection. But again, it is removing the worker from the hazard or the hazard from the workplace. These are the goals that we need to be focused on to protect workers. Not just issuing citations. Thank you, i will go to doctor howard. 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 naked 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 n95 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. I know cdc investigates instances when covid couldve started in the workplace, how can we figure out of somebodys exposure started 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. Thank you very much, you are out of time. Let me recognize the gentle lady from florida. You are recognized. Thank you very much. Ms. Sweat you told your record representative to look at the regulatory agenda of Infectious Disease 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. I didnt understand that answered. But let me go on to doctor howard. The 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. Seen how it was said that this facility report said those would be publicly available, wouldnt it make sense to add the requirement for hospitals to report Health Care Worker covid19 and deaths to the existing requirements . It looked at the cdc requirements, seeing this is going to collect better data. I would think that after they set out of the north Nursing Homes, that they should extend into hospitals and other health care institutions. Could you react to that . Sure, i think that is up to cms. But on the cdc front, we are moving to data monetization. To taking the beginning of the pipeline for disease Surveillance Data which is a health care facility, and then the state health department, and then to the cdc. We are looking at electronic data modernization and we can thank the congress for those additional funds that are available there. 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. Let me follow up on that, as you know the cdc has trouble getting states to use your form standards for information so that you can compare it nationally. Will this particular standard be the same for every state or will they be able to marry it 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. Somehow some itv support challenges in getting there. But 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 a disease as you well know, having been secretary of hhs, they have 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 now to the gentleman from kansas just a minute. Im sorry. No apologies necessary. Thank you both for being here. And being present and answering questions. So, getting our economy open, getting people back to work is just about the top priority be above all we else, as well as getting our schools open comes up timber. So maybe i can ask a couple of questions about that is. Well the but what is crucial of course is that business is open with at a high level at high safety workplace standards. I am a Firm Believer that businesses need to open but we need to do so in a responsible manner. I dont think this is going to be over in the short term, businesses the need to prepare, evolving and improving for the long term. For health and safety work environments. From osha standpoint, i would like to know we, i know youve been putting out guidance for a while, is many is 26 or 27 works of workplace guidance. I assume that is going to continue to evolve and i continue to evolve and i havent read them all, my apologies but are you offering the essentials behind social distancing and guidance . Ppes, the masks, when it is appropriate to wear gloves, is oshas guidance going to be that specific . 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. Yes, 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 compliance . 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 or use any companies as example in 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 very fortunate that people are providing some of their return to work practices and 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 that ive been talking to, we are engaged open and listening, and we will adapt to what we are learning. Its very important, obviously not a higher priority than funding a vaccine and correcting the virus itself. Lastly, are you providing any information for restaurants . We for the actual opening . Are you planning ahead for what restaurants can do in order to open save lee . There is cdc guidance available already. The cdc has guidance on restaurants and bars. The right, but it needs to evolve. That guidance doesnt necessarily include people sitting down. The current guidance halos all of those issues, but i also mention that all of the guidance is constantly a volleying and Additional Information may be available. Thank you. We we are fortunate people on april 28th President Trump announced that he would use an order to use the defense production act to force meatpacking plants to be 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 with of meatpacking plants without any protection for workers leading tens of thousands get sick and over 20 to close down. Ms. Sweat 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 and 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 employers in the area already instituting 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. How many plants have you inspected . I think we have almost 58 meatpacking enforcement activities right now. We have been into about ten in the last week. There have been, in the last count i saw, 11,000 folks involved in infected because of meatpacking plants. Many folks have died. Many workers have died. If the employer shows good faith is it the case that there will be no osha citation . Is that right . Good faith and other standards are two different things. I would hesitate to comment on a straw man if you will, but it is going to be based on the specifics of what we find in the plant. I dont think it is a straw man, peoples lives are on the line. People are getting infected. These standards are not mandatory. We can agree on that, right . We have existing standards, sanitation being one of key. I would like to say for a moment, the people that work at osha are dedicated to protecting workers. We i dont question that. But let me ask you, do you think these standards that have been discussed recently when the pandemic hit, do you think they should be mandatory . I think what we have provided in this guidance is a roadmap to help protect workers. It is one element of the response of the government has had. See d. C. Has gone into these plants and an walltowall epidemiological surveys. We haves access to that information as well. There are a variety of people across the government to improve the safety and health. But you have 11,000 people that have gotten sick. A lot of people are dead now. The meatpacking plaids along with Nursing Homes and cruise ships, have been a place where this is spread rapidly. Yet you dont believe the standard should be mandatory . I think people should comply with the law. And if we can continue to put the best practices in place, we will eventually and hopefully, soon eradicate this problem. But it is a challenge. And we continue to tackle. It the good faith standard is problematic, can you tell me anywhere else in the ocean enforcement program, aside from equipment shortages, were good faith gets an employer out of the ocean citation. I can tell you, upon employed to take shuns, the good faith policy was there for 30 days as employers learned and try to figure out how they were to comply with the new silica standard. We it is not novel. We have seen a dramatic compliance with silicon. Oh 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. 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 guidances of all the. We are a learning organization. I also know that ms. Sweat, you have pointed out that the guidance is just that because the decisionmaking authority, in my opinion, ought to be pushed down to more local levels where it can be adopted to a community. Because they can see their health situation, and what applies to them, what might be true in new york city might not be true into peak kansas. We they might know how many hospitals they have, how many ppe situations they have. So i applaud you for your efforts. I know it is very challenging time. Getting back to the increase in numbers of employers who have reached out to you, has there been any particular industry that has reached out more than other industries . No with, we have seen across the Board Industries looking for information and guidance and weve provided as many people from the agency as possible to talk to folks by webinars or by answering other questions, and again by admire josh we do think that employers are trying to do their best to respond to this. The agency will be there to help give them the best information that we can. Thank you. Doctor howard, as the economy regains its strength, most of us agree that the biggest fear and threat is a deflationary spiral. Going past these economic lines that we cannot return back from. Obviously we want to return back to work many of us believe that to be the best stimulus. We cannot simply print money in the hopes that saves us. That makes the cdc 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 . I think the type of business that we are familiar with, since we have dumber done a number of field investigations is Meat Processing, it is extremely labor intensive. People are shoulder to shoulder oftentimes on these production lines. There is nothing closer than that type of workplace. We have also seen in Nursing Homes and hospitals, you have to be close to the patient. You cannot do you work from ten feet away from your patience. There are a number of workplaces which the working situations are significant. In eastern kansas we had a hog slaughtering business has had a number of cases. What should i as a policy maker, no as i approach those business . Leaders what i would do is take a copy of the cdc osha 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 for both of you, would you say that we are generally trending up or down in our capacity to deal with this pandemic . The if you look at the case numbers, other than some notable hotspots, the general numbers in new cases day over day as well as new fatalities, are going down. As the cdc director is pointed out, there could be a second wave in the fall. Coupled with our normal seasonal influenza. We cant rest until we take care of the whole problem. Thank you. That does it for my time. Thank you for coming, i appreciate your professionalism and hard work. I yield. I want to recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania. We thank you madam chair, id like to thank both of our testifiers for being here today. We do know that the job you do is very important. I know the employers that you help appreciate keeping their employees safe, because as an employer myself, part of being elected to office is that the most important acid that we have is the people that go to work every day. On may 19th, osha updated a Response Plan to increase the use of all types of workplaces. Not just health care. As you can you can you explain oceans rationale, what 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 full 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 wouldthe 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 isthatsomething that is pushed out by osha and cbc or do they have to go some place to look for the . Our information is available on the website 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 to 280,000 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 an alert if something changes or how does that work 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 we include all of that learning in our next version of guidance on the particular industry occupation. Thank you very much, your time is up. I yield back. Let me recognize the gentleman from south dakota. But thank you madam chair. My line of questioning is for doctor howard. Last month the president announced that the ceta osha and others to do everything they can keep making packing we they play a Critical Role in the Food Supply Chain. Can you walk us through the Technical Advice and guidance that your agency has done in continuation of that mission. Has a mentioned we have a tenpage guidance that we have done with asha. It is jampacked with lots 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 practices. I just know that in south dakota that this is an area that is high interest because of the smith field plant, folks watching at home or on the internet, they may be interested to know the best recommendations. So we start out with a basic recommendation, but as you well know coming from so dakota and other plants like that, it is very difficult. It is a very labor intensive process. So what can you do in lieu of that physical distancing . You can try to separate people. You can put a partition between them . So that they are not shoulder to shoulder. Or you can protect their zone by the use of a face shield or mask. One of the things that we have noticed in these plants, i will mention this because it is a very important best practice. These plants are very noisy. One of the things that we have seen, is that when you keep people separated as much as you can, you keep on the cloth face mask and the shield, they still have to speak to each other or supervisor. Off comes the shield, down comes the masks, and they are shouting at each other meld to hear. That kind of interaction is a trans missive event. If we can prevent that from happening, that would be a great best practice that will help. It is not one that is a lot of people know about because people are more knowledgeable about separating people in lines. The other thing is ventilation, make sure that you are moving a lot of air, in a workplace like these plants, the temperatures are kept very low. It actually helps the virus. It is a challenge. The temperature is low because of food safety issues. So each time you look at one of these best practices, you have to put it into the context of the Production Facility itself. It is a challenging thing for us to make rage commendations and to get them to be feasible technically within that workplace. Its very challenging. Every location is different, but when you talk about the role of screens as people go into the workplace. The last time i was at smith field i examined what appeared to be rather regulars process for people to get into the plant with temperature checks and screening questions. Has that proven to be effective . Tshirt. The first step is hazard a limousine elimination. The hazard is the virus. It just happens to be carried along by people who may not know that they are infected. They could be asymptomatic or have a little fever but you dont really notice. Those tracks prior to entry, do you have any symptoms, symptom questioning, have you been around with anyone, have you been in contact with somebody who has covid19, the issue about doing a temperature check. In some companies they are starting actual testing. Testing for the virus is only a snapshot in time. It is not answer the whole thing as you go through time. It gives sometimes workers a false sense of security. Together with those entry checks, then you go into the workplace and look at the other controls, and ppe as necessary. Humankind is very good at fighting the last battle. Packing plants are on high alert, but thats when the only critical part of the Food Supply Chain. What is the next weakness to the Food Supply Chain that we should Pay Attention to . When you look at food when it gets to the Grocery Store, the interaction in that setting, but in between workers and customers, oftentimes you see the same physical distancing 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. ,. ,. ,,. ,. ,. But i would like to thank the witnesses for your participation today. What we have heard is very troubling, members of the subcommittee may have some questions and we asked the witnesses to please respond to the questions in writing. The hearing record will be 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 to place records to the American Hospital so salacious in 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 that showed up to work to do their job. Because that is what we are supposed to do. When i started preparing for this hearing, i looked at it from the point of view of my prior life is a lawyer representing employers who had to comply with osha. So i said okay, if when my clients called me what advice would i give them . I went online to see what you guys have put out. It took me a long time to could because youve put out a lot of stuff. The benefit of that, both employers employees is this, this is a confusing time. Just getting good quality information is about 99 of what we need to do. Good quality information hasnt been easy to come by. The guidance you have put out has been extraordinarily important to employers trying to do what they want to do and which is protect their employees. You have given that to them. You are working with them to help understand the experts, they have sort of been all over the place with this disease. Early on, it was not a big problem. Oh no, now it is a big problem. Early on, dont wear face masks. Now youre supposed to. We have some experts saying that we shouldnt have shut down, others say we had to. It has been difficult for all of us to try to figure out what we should do. What you have all done with is work through this in good faith and, to make us understand it so that we can implement it. I know it is a changing situation. And i appreciate that about what you are doing. We made some mistakes in washington. Some of the stuff we have done is gone too far. We have heard our economy. But we based it on our advice at the time. Public Health Experts who were dealing with limited information on the reports. Some of the projections we got were wildly off mark. We are just having to deal with this as best as we can. I dont see how it helps anything for us to turn to you guys, who have this important obligation in a very difficult time, to keep the workplace safe. For us to say, stop and then go through all of the legal mumbo jumbo. There is a difference between keeping people safe and issuing standards. Issue standard does not keep anybody safe. We have a standard right now, every employee in america has an obligation under the osha general duty claws to keep their workplace safe. There is no question about that. With the question is what is that duty . The guidance helps describe the duty and if enforcement is necessary use that guidance to determine this employee did not comply with the guidance of duty laws. When i saw that the aflcio filed a lawsuit, i was disappointed. If there ever was a time for us not to be filing frivolous lawsuits, this would be that time. Particularly against the very departments of government that we rely upon to keep the workplace safe. We dont need you to be taking time off of that job of keeping the workplace safe to sit down with a bunch of lawyers to decide this lawsuit. That is not helping workplace a 40. And here in congress, we passed a bill from the house a couple of weeks ago, its not even gonna be taken up in the senate, because this stuff in it that is not acceptable, but it attempted to deal with this issue. Not once did we have a hearing on it, the committee of jurisdiction, not once we get to this committee. Not once. This is so important, why didnt we do it before we pass the bill . Look, we have worked together in this congress on this disease. We passed almost three trillion dollars in spending bills in a very short period of time. Huge bipartisan majority. Thats the only way to act in the situation, with bipartisan commitment to the american people. We need to Work Together. Like her constituents her having to do, we should not be having partisan hearings. We should show up for work like our constituents do. We should take this seriously like our constituents do. We should understand that at the end of the day it is all of our job to work for a safe workplace, with the most important part of the American Economy, the men and women of the United States of america. Thank you for what you do every day, we are grateful for what you do and your presence. I yield back. I now recognize myself for the purpose of making my closing statements. I want to again thank the Deputy Assistant secretary and doctor howard, both for joining us for this important discussion. I want to thank all of my colleagues who are here today, and those who are virtually here also. I do want to emphasize that the pts is not a rigid or inflexible one size fits all standard that fails to accommodate changing technology. Standard and those that an Infection Control panel and with that specific workplace it requires assessment of risks in workplace and a plan tailored to the particular workplace, development of the plan should involve employees. This is not a required rigid standard. The second, osha is the airborne transmission will standard and it is not being a one size fits all we let me just say that what we heard today is that in the middle of this Global Health emergency, that is causing more deaths in less time than any other workplace crisis that osha has faced, in its 50 year existence. Asha stubbornly refuses to use its authority to protect this nations workers. The failure to act is a stunning act of abdication by the Senior Leaders in the department of labour. Workers are demanding the strong standards and enforcement of those standards instead we get voluntary guidance and employees can choose to comply with to their convenience. The best osha can offer is threats to use a toothless general duty clause. When inspections do occur, they happen to often after the bodies around the more rather than prevention. Win employers need clear standards so that they know when they have met their obligation, to make their workplace safe, instead they get vague generic suggestions. This is not how the architects of the accuracy they dont envision oceans response during a workplace crisis. The act tells us that osha should issue an emergency issued temporary standard if it determines that workers are exposed to a grave danger or new hand serves. We 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 not only is asha refusing to act, that would address the hazard of this nation and what it is facing. So as the economy reopens, the key to preventing a more devastating second wave will be protecting workers and the millions of workplaces that has exposure hazards. We have no mandatory standard. No way to enforce safe working conditions that will be key to preventing that second wave. And it is deeply disappointing that asha, the only federal agency with the authority to enforce safe working conditions is missing in action. Im not only disappointed, but i am saddened for the workers of this country who continue to lack adequate protections on the job. And when they go home they infect their families. I am upset about the future of this country that asha and there inaction foreshadows. I can only hope that you and secretary scalia wake up before it is too late and shoes to fill oshas mission to ensure safe working conditions for every man and woman in this country. If there is no further business or without objection, the committee stands adjourned. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] coming up in American History to these herbert hoover, we start with biographer george nash and we kick off presentations in hoovers humanitarian efforts mr. Nash talked about world war i relief work, which set the stage for his white house run. Watch American History tv, tonight and over the weekend on cspan three. Next, herbert overspend for, george nasty recalls with what one belief which, with a save the lives of millions in the words aftermath, and set the stage for his white house run. This top at who first president ial library in west branch, iowa, opened up a date phone conference on his humanitarian efforts. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to the herbert whove