According to a Jan. 5 press release, labor organizations National Nurses United (NNU); AFL-CIO; American Federation of Teachers (AFT); American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); as well as some of the nation’s other major nursing unions, including the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and Pennsylvania Association of Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a permanent standard that requires employers to protect healthcare workers against COVID-19.

The release states that “The unions took this legal action after the Department of Labor failed to make permanent the emergency temporary standard (ETS) on COVID-19 that took effect on June 21, 2021. Without the protections of a permanent standard, the health and well-being of nurses, other healthcare workers, patients, and the general public is in grave danger.”

Further, “The unions petitioned the court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering OSHA to issue a permanent standard for healthcare occupational exposure to COVID-19 “aimed at protecting the life and health of millions of nurses and other frontline healthcare workers throughout the United States in grave danger from the deadly COVID-19 pandemic,” and retain and enforce the June 21 emergency temporary standard until it is properly superseded by the permanent standard.”

The release explains that the failure to preserve the existing ETS and to adopt a permanent rule protecting healthcare workers violates the clear directive of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. “According to the petition, ‘when OSHA determines an emergency situation exists (as it did here) and issues an emergency standard, that emergency standard must stay in effect until a final rule is issued, which must be done within six months of publication of the emergency standard,’” the release continues.

The release notes that nurses stress “the grave danger” that caused the issuance of the emergency temporary standard still remains and has, in fact, increased with the Omicron variant and the current surge of infections and hospitalizations. The release adds that on Dec. 28—one day after OSHA announced plans to revoke the ETS—the seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases broke previous records.

“When OSHA issued the ETS in June, the agency noted that as of May 24, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported 491,816 healthcare workers had contracted COVID-19 and 1,611 had died from it,” states the release. “By Dec. 30, 2021, the CDC reported that those numbers had almost doubled: 803,454 healthcare workers had contracted COVID-19 and 3,063 had died from the disease.”

Bonnie Castillo, RN, National Nurses United executive director was quoted in the release saying that “OSHA is charged with ensuring that employers create and maintain safe workplaces, and this delay in issuing a permanent standard puts the lives of nurses and other healthcare workers, patients, and our communities, in jeopardy. We have seen far too many of our fellow nurses die during this pandemic. As of today, we have recorded the deaths of 476 nurse deaths from COVID. Going to work should not mean putting your life and the lives of your loved ones in danger. It is time for OSHA to issue a permanent standard and protect nurses and healthcare workers who are on the front lines working to save the lives of others.”