Paper on Ensuring Safety for Healthcare Workers Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Support OSHA

My name is Donald Junior, a Registered Nurse in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am writing to you in reference to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are increasingly facing the risk of infection from unsafe working areas and the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The primary objective of OSHA was to ensure healthful and safe working environments for working women and men by designing and implementing appropriate safety standards and policies, a promise they have failed to meet during the pandemic.

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The Coronavirus cannot be wished away by faith/belief or beliefs and pretend like nothing is happening. However, the epidemic will only get bigger, cause a significant toll on the economy, and lengthen the recovery time if concrete disease control efforts are not implemented as soon as possible. A vital component in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic is the healthcare workers (Maclntyre, 2020). These are the brave women and men of Nevada who work at the frontline, as well as their protection and safety by respirators, gowns, masks, and gloves, among other PPEs. Providing safe and conducive environments for healthcare workers and other hospital staff, is key to protecting them, their families, as well as the people their colleagues. It is also a step in the right direction in controlling the spread of the virus since doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff come into close contact with positive COVID-19 patients. According to synonymous healthcare workers in Southern Nevada, the state was not adequately prepared for the pandemic. The administration just ignored the situation without projecting the current influx of patients into hospitals. Other nurses and doctors from different facilities in the state have raised the same issue, with others stating that they are being forced to reuse PPEs (Messerly, 2020). Reused PPEs are a severe danger of contracting the virus for both the doctor and nurse taking care of the patient. Reused gear is also a massive risk to the entire hospital fraternity since the safety of the gear depends on how thoroughly the gear was cleaned or sanitized. Contaminated gear poses a huge risk to everyone within the hospital premises since the infected doctor/nurse can easily transmit the virus through surfaces and hospital infrastructure. Many hospital staff have also voiced their frustrations with the change of mask guidelines by the CDC and the use of bandanas as mask options (Leibenluft & Olinsky, 2020). These guidelines are never meant to care for healthcare workers, who are forced to abandon their own families to avoid infecting them with the virus.

As a member of several Senate committees and a strong advocate for both working men and women in the country, you have the platform to assist with this matter. I request you to support to the OSHA act of 1970. Supporting this act will guarantee safe and conducive working environments for all healthcare workers who are championing the fight against the virus. It will also ensure adequate PPEs for all healthcare workers, reducing their risk of contracting the deadly virus. These efforts will significantly help in controlling the virus since medical workers will have minimal risk, and hospital infrastructure will not be contaminated.

Thank you for your time and endless efforts to protect and serve the working men and women of this great state of Nevada.

Sincerely

Donald Junior

Address

References

Leibenluft, J., and Olinsky, B. (2020). Protecting Worker Safety and Economic Security During The COVID-19 Reopening. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/news/2020/06/11/486146/protecting-worker-safety-economic-security-covid-19-reopening/

Maclntyre, R. (2020). The impact of PPE shortages on healthcare workers during covid-19 pandemic. NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence Integrated Systems for Epidemic Response. https://iser.med.unsw.edu.au/blog/impact-ppe-shortages-health-workers-during-covid19-pandemic

Messerly, M., 2020. Calm Before the Storm: Nevada Hospital Workers Grapple with Mask Shortages, Staying Safe as Corona Virus Cases Grow. The NEVADA INDEPENDENT. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/calm-before-the-storm-nevada-hospital-workers-grapple-with-mask-shortages-staying-safe-as-coronavirus-cases-grow