When it comes to vaccine mandates, Biden is counting on OSHA

September 12, 2021  By Joe Strader

On his first day as in the White House, Joe Biden signed an executive order giving OSHA broad power to regulate health and safety in the workplace, particularly regarding COVID-19. At the time, it was thought that OSHA would enforce face coverings in the workplace.

On Thursday, President Biden announced that companies with more than 100 employees are required to make certain that all employees are vaccinated or have a weekly negative COVID test. This broad power may indeed be unconstitutional, but OSHA is ideally suited to try to enforce the mandate.

Most people know that OSHA creates detailed rules governing workplaces. These rules have been enforced using intrusively detailed onsite inspections. A COVID vaccination rule under this model would be quite difficult to enforce in person.  However, the way OSHA enforces rules has changed.

OSHA now relies on detailed reports from employers rather than onsite inspections. Only if an employer has an increase in accidents or workplace illnesses, would OSHA look more closely at the operation. Problems such as deaths or serious injuries might generate an onsite inspection.  State OSHA departments do much of the actual onsite work in cooperation with federal OSHA.............To Read More....