Building the Capacity of Boards of Health

On September 8, 150 dedicated local public health officials joined MassCOSH and the Massachusetts Health Officers Association for a highly informative webinar on how local boards of health can expand their capacity to protect the Commonwealth's workers from an unprecedented health and safety crisis.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, workers on the frontlines have been getting sick and dying from workplace exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. With the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration largely missing in action at a time when they are needed most, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued COVID-19 Workplace Safety Regulations and put local boards of health in charge of ensuring that workers in Massachusetts are protected. 

These boards are made up of elected or appointed term-based individuals and have the authority to set policies and make regulations to protect public health. These boards are now on the forefront of protecting workers and the public from COVID-19 and MassCOSH is working hard to ensure they are given every chance to succeed in their mission.

Webinar participants now have a better understanding of worker health and safety in the time of COVID-19, the need to collect data and on occupation, industry, and employer to help protect workers and identify the role that work is playing in spreading the virus, and the powers local boards of health have in enforcing worker health and safety regulations.