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Fraud, Abuse, Or Retaliation

COVID-19: To Protect Mission Critical Workers, OSHA Could Leverage Inspection Collaboration Opportunities with External Federal Agencies

Submitting OIG:

Department of Labor OIG

Date Issued:

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Department of Labor

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

19-22-003-10-105

Location(s):

Agency-Wide

Type of Report:

Audit

Special Projects:

Questioned Costs:

$0

Funds for Better Use:

$0

Number of Recommendations:

2

View Document:

Attachment	Size
19-22-003-10-105COVID-OSHA-Inspctns-CllbrtnFinal-Rpt03312022.pdf	2.64 MB

Additional Details Link:

https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/2022/19-22-003-10-105.pdf

Related Open Recommendations

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation	Additional Details
1	Open	Yes
We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health develop an OSHA outreach plan to be activated during a large-scale safety and health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic that (a) identifies external federal agencies with enforcement or oversight personnel who are active on worksites and (b) defines how OSHA will collaborate with those agencies. OSHA should consider incorporating into the plan: a process to identify and document highly visible, safety and health hazards for large-scale safety and health crises; a plan for how OSHA will conduct related outreach and training on those hazards and how to refer them to OSHA; and a tracking system for agency referrals and outcomes of those referrals, using that information to periodically inform the outreach plan on areas and types of guidance and training the agencies’ oversight and enforcement personnel need.
2	Open	Yes
We recommend the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health explore mechanisms to enhance collaboration, such as MOUs or other written agreements using GAO’s seven key features for collaboration, and incorporate a process to utilize those mechanisms into the outreach plan.