The Virginia Final permanent standard places undue burden on employers throughout the state. The standard needs to be revoked as there is no longer a need for these workplace standards. Virginia as a whole is over the 70% mark in vaccinated people, which means more vaccinated employees in our workplaces.

I believe that VOSH and the SHCB was not forthcoming with information and the announcement on the revision of this standard and the proposed amendments. There was no announcement of the SHCB meeting to address the changes and the notification on the VOSH News page was hidden below an older entry, and is difficult to find looking through the VOSH webpage. 

In the SHCB meeting Mr. Withrow alluded to the fact that this amended standard can be used as a tool to get employees to get vaccinated or force employers to require vaccinations, which is not, and should not, be the focus of ANY workplace regulation. This oversteps what the focus of a workplace standard should be about.

Regardless of your stance on vaccinations and covid, that even being said as a statement for a reason to continue a standard that is outdated, and has been since it came out in June 2020, has lagged well behind the CDC in guidance and recommendations. If you are not the one creating the guidance on a Heath issue than you shouldn't be trying to keep up with those who do. This leads to lagging standards and outdated recommendations that the state cannot, in any way, keep up with. This also leads to an expectation that any other communicable diseases will be treated the same way. Federal OSHA does not try to do this and they simply have regulations that are incorporated by reference to other industry standards, this should also be the case for communicable diseases, let the health experts provide the guidance and VOSH stick with workplace guidance. 

This is also the only standard that I am aware of that has had required employers to provide 3 different trainings within a year based on amendments to the standard. We trained all employees on the first Temporary standard, then had to change the training once it was the final permanent standard, and now, with the amended standard will require another training to cover the changing regulations. This puts undue burden on the employers, their staff, and any of us that are safety professionals to provide training that is constantly changing. This leads to employee unrest, confusion, and ultimately, unwillingness to comply. As far as an economical impact on employers throughout the state, COVID has cost employers enough money to provide barriers, cleaning, and other measures to protect our employees, and continuing to move the mark is fiscally irresponsible. 

Changing the requirements of the standard every three months based on the latest guidance from the CDC creates a lack of trust and willingness to comply with the changes. We constantly get asked why regulations are changing and it causes confusion amongst the employee base. One week we tell them one thing and come back the next wth a change to the regulation. This builds distrust between the employers, the employees and their safety personnel. 

VOSH has lagged in replying to employee questions on the ETS, and the FPS and used the FAQ page to only answer those questions they deemed worthy of placing on the page.  Personally I submitted at least 5-8 questions through the email box or to various Compliance personnel in the state and was met with either no answer to my question or one of two other responses which were, we need a consolidated answer from Richmond, or  you can use our consultation services. Consultation is not geared toward helping large businesses in the state and there are not currently enough of them to handle a crisis such as COVID.

Expecting employers to constantly check a FAQ page in order to comply with a standard should tell you that the standard was not well written. More time and effort should have been put into the creation of the standard so that on release it was a fully functioning/executable/enforceable standard instead of focusing on having the "first in nation" status. 

VOSH requiring a mask mandate for those that are unvaccinated and require training for them only is just going to lead to employees providing false information about their vax status, it will not serve to drive employees to get vaccinated. 

VOSH addresses this in the standard by stating that an employer can rely on an employees representation that they are vaccinated, but then also states nothing can stop the employer from asking for proof. If, as a business in the Commonwealth, VOSH can fine a business for employees not wearing masks if they are not vaccinated and face citations and fines from 13k to over 130k, then you cannot simply rely on an employees representation. If you want to make a statement with the standard, put some onus on the employee and require that they provide proof of vaccination, put some language in that defines the employee responsibility as they do in other federal standards like respiratory protection. Employees need to have skin in the game for a standard like this to work. 

This one line (employee representation) in the proposed standard is setting businesses up for failure, and also puts strain on employer/employee relationships. Tensions, political opinion, fear, and knowing that employees can lie about their vax status leaves employers vulnerable to exposures in the workplace, and open to confrontations when asking employees of their status or asking to see their vaccination card. 

For these reasons please revoke the Final Permanent Standard and allow employers to follow guidance from the CDC. As this is a HEALTH emergency the state, as well as the nation should follow the guidance of those who deal with the health of all.