Thousands of OSHA complaints filed against companies for virus workplace safety concerns

Thousands of complaints have been filed with federal officials on behalf of workers during the pandemic about exposure to coronavirus and related safety concerns, according to records obtained under a Freedom of Information request and reviewed by The Washington Post.

The complaints offer a snapshot of the fear experienced by working Americans compelled to go to work even as the majority have been urged to stay home, and they come from an array of workplaces: hospitals, construction companies, grocery stores, pharmacies and shipping companies.

Collectively, the records depict the desperation of the employees and their frustrations with employers, who in the view of workers were at best simply unprepared for a pandemic and at worst callously unconcerned with worker safety. Thousands of OSHA complaints filed over coronavirus safety lapses, including lack of masks and working in close quarters.

Some of the employees complain of a lack of masks and gloves, others that there is not enough space to stand six feet from one another, others that they have been forced to work with others who appear sick.

"Delivery drivers are required to disinfect vehicles using personally bought chemicals, without been trained on the hazards associated with such activities and chemicals," one complaint reads.

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Another says of an employer: "They are forcing employees to work in very close contact with other employees and employees are worries for their health and safety."

The records include numerous complaints from health-care workers, including by those given "plastic ponchos" and masks made out of paper towels. Employees report lack of hand sanitizer or soap in bathrooms, as well as pharmacists and technicians forced to work in close proximity without protective gear.

Citing the Freedom of Information Act, The Post requested all worker complaints regarding coronavirus filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from January through early April. There were more than 3,000 such complaints filed. The records do not state what actions were taken as a result.

The actual number of complaints from employees about coronavirus, however, is likely far higher because that count does not include the complaints from the roughly 20 states that collect the complaints on their own.

The toll on workers has been startling.

More than 500 workers at the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, have reportedly come down with the virus. Already there have been deaths of workers at a Trader Joe's in Scarsdale New York, a Giant in Largo, Maryland, and a Walmart in the Chicago area. At least 29 registered nurses have died in the United States, according to National Nurses United, a union.

The conditions have set off worker protests in the United States as employees demand extra protections - masks and gloves, for example - or hazard pay. Some of the first events arose at Instacart on March 30, when thousands of its workers stopped responding to delivery orders. But here thave been protests by workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, at Whole Foods and at McDonald's.

Initially, at least, some large retail chains, including Walgreens, Target and Office Depot, asked that workers not wear masks or gloves on the job, according to news accounts.

Despite requests from unions and members of Congress, OSHA has yet to issue a specific coronavirus standard for employers that would protect "essential" workers.

The result has been a patchwork of attempts to deal with safety issues. Some stores let customers in without masks; others do not. Some places offer employees masks; others have forbidden employees from wearing them, either out of concern that they would scare customers or because they are in short supply.

Early on in the epidemic, on March 6, OSHA issued a 35-page booklet with suggestions for what employers ought to do to protect employees. The documents tells them to "promote frequent and thorough hand-washing," "encourage respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes" and "provide customers and the public with tissues."

It further recommends that when the virus is present in an area, employers should "consider offering face masks to ill employees and customers" and that health-care workers dealing with sick patients "should wear respirators."

But the booklet notes that these recommendations are not in anyway legally binding on employers.

"This guidance is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations," the booklet begins.

Amid the confusion, unions, members of Congress and others have been asking for more rigorous protections for employees, and for OSHA to issue specific standards rather than merely making suggestions.