OSHA Changes Focus of the COVID-19 National Emphasis Program (NEP)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently made substantial changes to its National Emphasis Program (NEP) for COVID-19, including removing some industries from the list of targets for intensified inspection activities. 

OSHA also made a new name for the program, which will no longer be called the NEP but will be designated as the Interim Enforcement Response Plan (IERP). The original NEP and the new IERP will only apply in the states subject to federal OSHA enforcement and do not apply to the states with their own occupational safety and health agencies. 

Last March, the agency announced the creation of the NEP for COVID-19 enforcement action focusing on employers in higher hazard industries. The NEP mandates that 5% of each OSHA region’s total inspections must be related to COVID-19, resulting in a total of about 1,600 inspections. NEPs are temporary programs that focus OSHA's resources on particular hazards and high-hazard industries. Other NEPs adopted since 2008 have dealt with combustible dust, hazardous machinery, hexavalent chromium, lead, primary metal industries, process safety management, shipbreaking, crystalline silica, and trenching and excavation.

The creation of the NEP for COVID-19 initially targeted the healthcare industry, including hospitals, healthcare providers, assisted living facilities, and home healthcare services. In May of 2020, the NEP focused on targeting restaurants, including both full-service and limited-service establishments. 

Among the changes included in the IERP issued on July 7, the revised directive shrinks the number of targeted industries whose workers are identified as being most at risk for COVID-19 exposure. Those covered by the program still include healthcare, and some non-healthcare industry segments are considered a higher risk, such as meat and poultry processing and warehousing.

New Skills Are Needed to Tackle The Risks of The Future

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the significance of how critical health, safety, and well-being are to operate businesses successfully. In the manufacturing industry, workers are required to be on-site, so businesses need to equip their employees with appropriate competencies. 

Many recent news reports of COVID-19 outbreaks in plants demonstrate the impact when safety and precaution measures are unsuccessful. Protecting workers’ physical and mental health could improve business productivity and employee retention. 

At the same time, manufacturers’ futures rely on how effectively they can address four significant challenges:

• The changing nature of manufacturing work

• An aging workforce driving an increase in the hiring of younger and less-experienced workers

• Technology changes in the plant

• The unpredictability of economic globalization.

These factors have a direct impact on the occupational health and safety (OH&S) risk to workers.

The pandemic has highlighted just how vital the OH&S practitioner is to supporting COVID-19 safety plans while overseeing the many other health and safety risks in the workplace. Today’s OH&S professionals need a range of skills to support changing environments, including occupational medicine, epidemiology, occupational hygiene, mental health, and human factors.

They also need interpersonal, management, industry-specific and technical skills to equip them for the work ahead.

Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC has researched the impact of labor market issues in British Columbia’s manufacturing sector for the health and safety profession.

This research included broad participation with manufacturing and union leaders, OH&S professionals, and industry associations across Canada. It has highlighted the need to define a standard set of competencies for OH&S professionals within the manufacturing sector.

To have standardized accreditation and certification, education programs should align to set a standard of competencies to ensure that new practitioners have the skills to be effective. Manufacturing also requires additional specialized training due to the complexity of risk areas.

ILO and Vietnam Cooperate to Promote International Labor Standards and Decent Work For All

Vietnam’s Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on May 20 regarding cooperation in accelerating the implementation of ILO conventions in Vietnam for the next ten years. The document was signed on 20 May 2021 for the 2021-2030 period. 

This partnership includes raising awareness of the international labor standards, applying the ILO Conventions to Vietnamese laws, promoting the national capacity to implement and develop proposals for ratifying further ILO conventions. MoLISA Minister Dao Ngoc Dung states that the alliance is an important event that marks a new period of cooperation for the country. This helps the Vietnamese Government realize common goals regarding human rights, citizen rights, and employment relationships. 

Chang Hee Lee, Vietnam’s Country Director for ILO, has made significant contributions to achievements in labor and employment. He helped Vietnam urge the EU to ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), amending the 2019 Labour Code, improving the MoLISA’s State management capacity, and raising the country’s position in the ILO. 

“If all goes as planned, Viet Nam will become a leading country among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states in promoting international labor standards. I believe that it will lead to social upgrading, which is required for Vietnam to move towards becoming an upper-middle-income country,” says Change Hee Lee.

Vietnam has ratified 25 ILO Conventions to date, including seven out of eight fundamental conventions ranging from collective bargaining, non-discrimination, child labor, and forced labor.

UN Leaders Urging Companies to Take Measures to Protect Seafarers’ Rights

The United Nations has issued a list of human rights to business enterprises that are engaged in the maritime industry to protect seafarers that may be stranded on ships due to new COVID-19 variants and government-imposed travel restrictions. The Human Rights Due Diligence Tool is a joint initiative by the UN Global Compact, UN Human Rights Office, International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The tool provides guidance and a checklist for cargo owners, charterers, and logistics providers to conduct human rights due diligence across their supply chains to identify, prevent, mitigate and address adverse human rights impacts for seafarers. 

Amid concerns about the number of crew stranded working beyond their contacts at sea due to COVID-19 restrictions, UN agencies hope the new guidance will help ensure that the working conditions are respected and comply with international standards. The guidance aims to ensure that seafarers have rights safeguarded, such as physical and mental health, and access to family life, and freedom of movement. 

Although the maritime industry contributes more than 80% of global trade goods, there have been reports that seafarers are working way beyond the 11-month maximum limit of service on board. An estimated 200,000 crew are stuck on commercial vessels globally amid recent attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Unilever and other big retail brands are among consumer giants adopting a toolkit to audit their shipping supply chains to help bring seafarers stuck on commercial vessels back home and eliminate human rights risks. 

Any company that puts any cargo on ships will be encouraged to use the checklist, which includes asking ship owners and those who charter space on vessels to support crew changes and ensure clauses aren’t being added to contracts that prevent crew relief.

The EU Is Preparing to Launch Legal Proceedings Against Vaccine Producer AstraZeneca Over Vaccine Shortfalls

The European Union and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca have had a rough vaccine rollout, and many are complaining that regulators were too slow to approve the shots. AstraZeneca repeatedly slashed its delivery commitments, telling the public that they could not deliver as many vaccines as the bloc was counting on, which has led to delays in the COVID-19 vaccine in 27 EU nations. 

The European Commission raised the matter at a meeting of EU ambassadors Wednesday, during which the majority of EU countries said they would support suing the company on the grounds that it massively under-delivered pledged coronavirus vaccine doses to the bloc. However, five to six countries have raised concerns about launching a lawsuit against AstraZeneca, saying that the lawsuit wouldn’t guarantee that the EU got more doses. 

Some ambassadors also felt that launching a lawsuit would damage the image of AstraZeneca, diminishing citizens’ trust in the vaccine. In March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had expressed disappointment with AstraZeneca during a press conference, saying that “AstraZeneca has unfortunately under-produced and under-delivered. And this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign.” AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot had told EU lawmakers in February that low yields at EU production plants were causing the delays. 

EU countries also discussed on Wednesday contracts for more EU vaccines, following the Commission’s announcement last week that the EU secured 1.8 billion BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines through 2023. According to a diplomat, some ambassadors worried that the EU essentially is giving Pfizer a “monopoly” and said the EU needs to have a broad portfolio of vaccines. 

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said the company was not aware of any legal proceedings "and continues to hold regular discussions on supply with the commission and member states.” The EU has also decided not to take up an option to buy 100 million extra doses of AstraZeneca under the contract, after safety concerns about very rare cases of blood clots linked to the vaccine as well as supply delays.